Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
1927 USA Black / White 95 minutes
Review
The Man (George O'Brien) is attracted by city vamp The Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston), who seduces him by her sophisticated ways and talks him into selling his farm and drowning his wholesome country wife (Janet Gaynor). A few days later, The Man takes his wife for a trip to the city. He rows her across the huge lake toward the city.
But trying to carry out this plan, he recoils in horror and rows the boat to the shore. The wife runs and together they jump onto a trolley which takes them into the city. By the end of the day, they've fallen in love again; the man remembering why it was he married his wife in the first place. But when a storm breaks out on their way back across the lake, the Wife drowns.
Cast
Directed by F.W. Murnau
- George O'Brien .... The Man
- Janet Gaynor .... The Wife
- Margaret Livingston .... The Woman from the City
- Bodil Rosing .... The Maid
- J. Farrell McDonald .... The Photographer
- Ralph Sipperly .... The Barber
- Jane Winton .... The Manicure Girl
- Arthur Housman .... The Obtrusive Gentleman
- Eddie Boland .... The Obliging Gentleman
Links and more
News
Within 28 days it would have been J. Farrell MacDonald`s (The photographer) 133th birthday.
* June 6, 1875
† August 2, 1952
Trivia
Release date: September 23, 1927
The entire film was shot in Hollywood studios and at Lake Arrowhead, California (USA).
Oscar won:
Best Actress -> Janet Gaynor
Best Cinematography
Best Picture
Oscar nominations:
Best Art Direction
Sunrise was distributed with a Movitone soundtrack that included a musical score and some sound effects.
The man and the wife are named Ansass and Indre.
Released just a few days before the advent of the talkie The jazz singer (October 6, 1927), Sunrise proved a commercial flop.
The movie is based on a short story Die Reise Nach Tilsit (A Trip To Tilsit)
The original negatives of the film were destroyed in a fire in 1937.
Bio
F.W. Murnau
Don't act - think!
Remarkable:
Nosferatu was not an immediate success due to copyright issues. All prints of the film were ordered destroyed, but bootleg prints were stored and preserved over time.
Born:
December 28, 1888
Born as:
Friedrich Wilhelm Plumpe
Died:
March 11, 1931
During World War I Murnau served as a combat pilot and made propaganda films. He directed his first feature in 1919 Der Knabe in Blau, The Blue boy but won international acclaim for Nosferatu (1922), and Der letzte Mann,The last laugh in 1924. It was this film that got the attention of the early Hollywood film moguls such as William Fox.
In 1927 Murnau moved to Hollywood, where he made films such as Sunrise (1927)
and City girl (1930). But Murnau was frustrated by the lack of control he now had over his artistry. He eventually broke his contract with Fox.
Paramount Pictures were pleased by Murnau's work and offered him a contract for 10 years. But his first film Tabu (1931) would be his last film as he died in an automobile accident in 1931.
Selected Movies:
- Sunrise: A song of two humans (1927)
- Faust (1926)
- City girl (1930)
- Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922)
- Der letzte Mann (1924)
- Tabu (1931)
Academy award:
1929 Best Picture for Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
