Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

In 1927 William Fox, film producer and founder of Fox Film Corporation what we know now as 20th Century Fox, foresaw the need to find a new type of film in Hollywood that would stand out from the usual films found in theatres at that time. Fox would invite the fairly well know German expressionist director F.W. Murnau, most famous for his infamous Dracula ripoff Nosferatu, to come to the new movie making capitol of the world and bring his style to audiences in the States. The result would be a refreshingly different kind of film that was honored for its greatness on the silver screen both then and today.

The story is of a poor married farmer (George O'Brien) who is seduced by a city girl (Margaret Livingston) who is on vacation in the country, but in the opportunity of ridding himself of his wife (Janet Gaynor), he falls in love with her all over again. The films emotions run from suspense to lightheartedness, complex to simple, a story that shows how love is so simple and wonderful with the right person in your life.

Going into this film completely unaware of what to expect, especially from a title that seems very vague, I was wonderfully surprised by this gem that I found. I new it had merits to its title, but without knowing a single thing about the picture allowed me to enjoy it more then I could possibly imagine (which is why I watch the films first then do research later). This American film had a refreshing European flavor to it, with it's wonderful camera angles, camera effects, and stylish editing. In my humble opinion I find American pictures of this time to be much flatter in the sense of story, character, and style to their counterparts across the sea. European films tend to be more emotionally driven, perhaps it is because of the horror of surviving and rebuilding from the first World War and film was one way for an artist to express the deep emotional impact of man that experienced such a time. This motion picture, like many European films, has the same inner struggles that drive the picture instead of the action or splashiness that American films seemed to put out.

Sunrise would be well received by audiences and critics alike at it's time and even today. At the first Academy Awards ceremony it would take home three honors, including Janet Gaynor's award for best actress (shared with the films Seventh Heaven and Street Angel), a well deserved best cinematography award, and the award in Best Picture in Unique and Artistic Production (a sort of best picture #2 catagory, perhaps because it was "different" from what Americans normally saw and the Academy Awards were ran by a very select few at first. This category would never be seen again and live as part of the Best Picture Award.) This silent film also sits as #82 in the 2007 AFI poll of top movies all time, a deserving merit for a film that certainly stands out as a fresh mix of European emotion and Hollywood trying to find something new for audiences with a love story of love faded and rekindled to a point of absolute joy. The picture is a well recommended movie for those looking into the silent age.