Sunrise film review - Radio Times

Review

Cast & crew

Sunrise

(1927)

Janet Gaynor won the first ever best actress Oscar for her work in this exquisite silent feature, subtitled A Song of Two Humans. Emigré director FW Murnau, best known for Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horrors, has reduced a tale of threatened marriage to its bare essentials, as George O'Brien's farmer falls for visiting city girl Margaret Livingston. It is hard to convey briefly the wonder of imagery on display here, as Murnau both wittily and stylistically uses every aspect of visual storytelling, even making imaginative use of the back projection itself. Perspective design and stunning photography (by Charles Rosher and Karl Struss) help immeasurably. The tale is timeless, the setting nameless and the mood resolutely central European, though it was filmed in America at great expense. O'Brien brings a distinctively American presence to the romantically tortured hero, and Gaynor is simply perfection as his wife. This is pure cinema: emotionally uplifting, utterly absorbing, sublimely refreshing. Cynics be warned, it will melt your heart. TS

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Running time

90min

Country of origin

Genre

Silent Romantic Drama

Alternate title

Sunrise a Song of Two Humans

Screenplay

Carl Mayer, from the novel Die Reise nach Tilsit by Hermann Sudermann

Theatrical distributor

Fox Film Company Ltd

UK cinema certificate

UK cinema release date

February 2004




awards information


	Award	Category	Name	Nominee/Winner

	Academy 1927/28	Actress	Janet Gaynor	Winner
	Academy 1927/28	Cinematography	Charles Rosher	Winner
	Academy 1927/28	Cinematography	Karl Struss	Winner
	Academy 1927/28	Unique and Artistic Picture		Winner