Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
Tags: murder, atmospheric, sentimental

Plot synopsis:
In the summertime, described as vacation time, a Woman from the city (Margaret Livingston) travels to the country to sight see.She lingers in one particular town for weeks. One day she dresses up, asking the wife of her landlord to shine her high heeled shoes, and wanders through town. She arrives at the house of a farmer, The Man (George O'Brien) and his Wife (Janet Gaynor). The Man is about to sit down to dinner with his wife and notices the woman waiting for him. He seems guilty and nervous but he waves the City Woman to an area beyond the house, changes his coat, and leaves his house. His wife comes out from the kitchen, carrying dinner, and sadly notices that her husband has left. Two townswomen discuss how the young married couple used to be as happy as children. A flashback shows a happy farmer, wife, and child. The two old townswomen discuss how things have changed since the city woman arrived. They discuss how money lenders are stripping the farm while the wife sits alone. Another flashback shows two men leading a cow away as the Man watches. The wife leaves the empty dinner table to cry on her childs pillow.
The farmer walks under the moon. He travels deeper into wooded brush, crossing fences and shadows, to meet the Woman from the City. She waits under the moon, fixing her makeup. They meet and kiss. The wife cries alone with her child as the Man embraces the Woman from the City. The Woman from the City says, "Tell me you are all mine." He nods assent. She says, "Sell your farm and come with me to the city." The Man asks, "And my wife?" The Woman from the City says, "Couldn't she get drowned?" The Man recoils at the thought, and nearly chokes the woman in anger. She kisses his anger away and he calms down. The Woman from the City insists that he come to the city. Images of the city, brass bands and skyscrapers, flash above them. The Woman from the City dances under the moonlight. She concocts a plan to kill the wife in a boat accident. She instructs the Man to use a bundle of reeds to save himself, and the Man slinks home. He slinks into his bedroom, lays on his bed and looks at his sleeping wife. He thinks of the dark water and falls asleep.
The Wife watches the Man as he sleeps. She covers him in a blanket and stares at him adoringly. He wakes, sees his bundle of weeds, and remembers his dark purpose. He sees his wife and feels deep remorse. A ghostly image of the Woman from the City caresses him, urging him to commit the murder. He goes to his wife and asks her to accompany him. She responds happily. She leaves her child with a friend, saying that she and her husband are going on a trip across the water. She says goodbye to the child and the family dog. They go to the boat and the farmer stows his bundle of reeds. The dog, tied up at the house, begins to bark wildly, and the Man is disturbed. The dog breaks free and follows them out into the water. It climbs aboard but the Man returns to the shore and takes it back to the house. They disembark again. The Man refuses to look his wife in the eye as he rows. The Wife becomes worried by the crazed look in her eye. The man stops rowing, he looks at his wife, he rises and shuffles ominously toward her. She cowers in fear and raises her hands prayerfully toward him. He loses his urge to kill, falls back to the oars, and rows furiously toward the shore. The boat lands and the Wife immediately runs away. The Man chases her, telling her not to be afraid. The Wife runs to a trolley car and climbs aboard. The man catches the car at the last moment. The car travels through the woods and goes into the city. When the car stops, the Wife bolts into traffic. The Man follows, saying again "Don't be afraid of me" The Man catches his wife and leads her into a restaurant. He gets her a plate of cakes and they sit in silence. Neither can look the other in the eye. She takes a cake and breaks down, weeping bitterly. She leaves the restaurant and the Man follows. He buys her flowers and holds her until her fear and sadness pass. They hear church bells and wander into a wedding ceremony. While watching the exchange of vows the Man breaks down. He cries in terrible shame and guilt, realizing how horrible a husband he has been. He cries in his wife's lap, she leads him away from the ceremony. He begs her for forgiveness. The bells sound and they kiss, their vows renewed. They leave the church and wander into the street oblivious to the busy traffic around them. The city scene around them dissolves into a wooded meadow. When the city returns they wake up in the middle of the street with the traffic stopped around them. They move to the sidewalk and embrace in wedded bliss. They look at wedding photos in a shop window. The Wife urges the Man to get a shave. They enter a barber shop. The Man sits for a shave while the Wife waits and watches. She is annoyed to see a manicurist showing her husband attention. The Man shoos her away. He is annoyed to see a waiting male customer showing her attention. After his shave the Man approaches the customer and frightens him with a pocket knife. The couple go to the photographers shop to have their picture taken. While they try to look austere they become humorous with love and teasing. They kiss deeply and the photographer takes the picture. As they wait for their photo they knock over a statue. When the photographer returns they pay for the picture and leave quickly. The Man replaces the statue head with a rubber duck ball, which amuses the photographer when he sees it.
Meanwhile, the Woman from the City plots selling the farm through a newspaper ad.
The couple go to a large pleasure fair/entertainment district. They play carnival games. At one game a baby pig escapes and everyone in the crowd tries to catch it. There are comic antics involved in catching the pig. The Man succeeds in catching the pig and the crowd cheers him. The crowd urges the couple to dance, and a band plays a country song. The man and Wife do a country dance and the crowd cheer. After the dance, the couple are ushered to a table and drink wine in celebration. They are in a bliss of love and wedded union, they visualize angels drifting above their heads. The waiter arrives to give them their bill. They each pay a part of the bill and leave the carnival as fireworks light up the sky. They board the trolley for home. Soon, they are sailing back to the farm under the moonlight. They drift peacefully. They pass a skiff filled with festive people. The Wife falls asleep. A storm begins to rise. The storm blows through the city and the pleasure district. The storm rocks the boat of the Man and Wife. The Man tries desperately to control the boat. Losing hope, the Man straps the reeds to his wife. They cling together as the boat capsizes.
The storm passes and the man awakes on the rocks. The Man climbs ashore and calls for his wife.
The Woman from the City wakes to the frantic mobilization of the townsfolk. She leaves to witness the search.
The Man is maddened in his search for his wife. Boats search the water, calling her name. The Man follows a trail of floating weeds till he is convinced she has drowned. The man goes home in desolated sadness. The Woman from the City goes to his house. She calls him out. He goes to her in a murderous rage for all he has lost. As he begins to choke her he hears the call that his wife has been found alive. He runs home and arrives as she wakes up. They embrace. A fisherman describes how he found her and the townsfolk share their happiness.
As the sun rises, the Woman from the City leaves on a cart.
As the sun rises, the Man sits by the bed where his wife smiles radiantly at him. They embrace.
They dissolve into the sunrise itself.FINIS

Review: Margaret Livingston (who she?) is also quite realistic as a believably enticing city girl vamp (of modest means) who tries to lure the hero away from his deserving wife.The DVD has more extras than a Criterion issue, including a tentative reconstruction of Murnau's missing American masterpiece 'The Four Devils' (a circus love story) and the entire shooting scripts of both 'Sunrise' and 'The Four Devils'.'Sunrise' is presented with two soundtracks: the original (mono) Movietone (i.e. optical track) anonymous composite soundtrack cobbled together from several sources (think Wagner's Siegfried Idyll) and a newly written and recorded (stereo) score with all-original themes, that closely follows the original in spirit but not in melody.Both soundtracks try to add an intimate, poetic dimension to the film, which is subtitled 'A Song of Two Humans'.
The music is an integral part of the experience as the film is conceived as a tone poem and, as such (my theory) is a kind of transcription for the masses of Schoenberg's 1900 string ensemble tone poem 'Verklärte Nacht' (Transfigured Night), a late-Romantic/early expressionist attempt to describe musically the 'truly profound and authentic' relationship between a man and a woman who have problems (the music follows a poem of the era).Both soundtracks succeed admirably, my preference going to the new one, despite the original's polish, historical value and magnificent preservation.
And that would be because, although in the silent era there was no stigma attached to accompanying silent movies with a score made up of public domain and rather recognizable pieces, as long as they fit the mood, times have changed ('2001, A Space Odyssey' notwithstanding) and this practice is more distracting than anything for a contemporary, moderately educated spectator.Murnau had very highbrow ambitions but his film is totally clear and populist and made to reach the widest popular audience thanks to the incredible sums of money and artistry that Fox poured in the project.
While it does not have the social implications of his films such as "Nosferatu" or "Faust," the cinematography, acting, and Murnau's unabashed belief in the power of love helps this film to rise above the rest.The acting is sterling, with a 21-year-old Janet Gaynor looking incredibly similar to Drew Barrymore, and delivering a layered performance that reveals her character's strong but tenuous emotional state.
"Sunrise" is a nearly perfect movie that is impressive in every detail, and it is also a joy to watch, offering moments of suspense and tension and other moments of humor and humanity.The story provides a very thoughtful look at the importance and the fragile nature of human relationships.
Murnau's story (or filmed poem, according to the credits) is about a troubled farmer (George O'Brien) and his secret girlfriend (Margaret Livingston) plotting to murder his wife (Janet Gaynor, possibly the sweetest, most likable adult character in film history!)  The storyline, the dark, moody photography, the creepy sets (especially that swamp!) makes you think this will be a thriller with an unhappy ending, much like AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY.
Sunrise is a groundbreaking film, some of the techniques used by Murnau to tell his story are amazing, especially for the time.
George O' Brien and Janet Gaynor do not speak,and however,we can hear them,with all our heart ,with all our soul.Their faces reflect what they endure,suffer and enjoy.Because this is not only a drama.Sometimes it turns to a true comedy.For me the scene in the church climaxes the work:the husband,desperate to a fault,and his wife ,who saw her sincere love atrociously betrayed ,"get marry" again and the priest's words will drive you to tears.Unlike "Nosferatu",which took place in dark places ,and before "tabu" which would be an hymn to the nature -in every sense of the word,and probably the key to WF Murnau's entire canon"-,"Sunrise" is a diurnal movie,beginning with a meeting with the husband and his mistress at the break of dawn,and ending in the deep of the night,but the very last picture brings back sunrise,which epitomizes a new beginning, a new christening,a redemption.And the man ,crying and begging for pardon,it might be Murnau who thought his homosexuality was a crime -Nosferatu might be a metaphor as well,as the hero who abducts a priestess he's in love with in "tabu" -A true auteur opens up in his movies,if we can read between the lines.Murnau was,along with Fritz Lang,one of the two most influential forces of the expressionism ..
In the famous wedding scene, O'Brien breaks down in tears in front of his wife when he remembers back to the vow he took with his wife.Sunrise is one of the last great silent films that is filled with so many wonderful moments which helped it win the first and only Academy Award for Best Silent Film..
The loving look on her face, slowly melting away as she began to sense something was very wrong during the scene in which her husband rows away from shore was a powerful one for me, and an example of the acting skill that won her the Best Actress Oscar.George O'Brian's performance was good as well, especially when he was overcome with guilt.
Sunrise is a perfect example of what silent movies did so often and talkies seem to have to work like crazy to squeeze out: The illusion that one is entering a wonderful dream world.
I had just finished watching a beautifully restored print of "White Mane", Lamorisse's masterpiece, and tuned in TCM's Silent Sunday feature, Murnau's "Sunrise".First, I must agree that his imagery is superb, a cinematic Atget.The downside was the plot.
This is the third F.W. Murnau film I've seen, and with Sunrise I'm absolutely convinced that he was one of the all-time masters of cinema, and deserves to be ranked among the greats.
Sound had nothing to do with film in general.As the viewer can see in this picture there aren't a lot of textual phrases between the silent clips - Murnau must have mostly relied on simple expressions and montage footage (as Sergei Eisenstein researched on a different continent at the same time).
Also the director uses effects with pictures on pictures, what would be called special effects at the time.For instance when George O Brien (playing the man) sits on the bed wondering about if he really should kill his wife and the other women suddenly appears as a ghost, holding him from behind.Also animated texture makes this one of the last and remembered moving picture from the silent era..
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is an incredibly close-to-life, touching, tender love story, where an attractive woman (Margaret Livingston) comes from the city and sets her eyes on a local farmer (George O'Brien), who, might I add, is married with a baby.
"Sunrise" is essential viewing for anyone who wants to understand how emotionally resonant silent cinema can be when directed by a master of the form.Adapted by Carl Mayer from a German short story, the story is really a fable revolving around three characters  a farmer, his wife and a woman from the city.
Just twenty years old, Janet Gaynor uses her innocent manner and porcelain look to strong advantage as the wife, but it is the little-remembered George O'Brien who turns in the film's most powerful performance as the farmer, especially in his guilt-ridden plea for forgiveness outside the church where they witnessed a wedding.
Released in the same week as 'The Jazz Singer', F.W. Murnau's masterpiece 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' represents the pinnacle of silent film art.
The contrast between tranquil country and maurauding city, darkness and light, sunrise and sunset - even sound and silence - are all explored with expert subtlety.It's a shame that Murnau is best known for `Nosferatu', a much lesser and rather derivative horror story, rather than this, the Citizen Kane of silent cinema.
His film is about the rebirth of a love and of a fresh start to an old life.Murnau does a masterful job, of course, in telling the story of the husband and wife rekindling their love after years of mental separation.
Murnau's direction orders an emotional chaos making the best use out of the rudiments of the craft, so a title card can be not only mere text but a dramatic element (the word `drowned' literally drowns), and the music score supply a voice for the characters (the desperate husband looking for her wife in the lake).
It's almost impossible to describe it without talking exclusively in superlatives – that's how sublime piece of filmmaking it is – but I try to stay in my pants through this rant, that is also a sincerest kind of a love song to a film that a man can absolutely adore.When I first saw this late in the night I was kinda tired and not so sober, but once the film started rolling I must have looked like Malcom McDowell in Clockwork Orange's famous scene with his eyes forced open to visual images.
There's much more to it than that, as told through the camera focusing on its visual darkness to simplistic visuals of another world, montage effects, inter-titles of spoken words that slowly slide downwards on the screen, and most important, its haunting musical score composed by Hugo Risenfeld setting the tone, mood and pattern to what's to be shown.The opening title reads as follows: "This is the story of the man and his wife, no place and every place; you might hear it anywhere at any time, for wherever the sun rises and sets in the city's turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is, much the same, sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet." In a setting that could be somewhere in Europe or the Florida everglades, the main focus is on a farmer (George O'Brien) with a trusting wife (Janet Gaynor) and a baby.
This could very much had been a long dream sequence, but in reality, a story set in two worlds apart.An Academy Award winner in the category of "artistic quality of production," SUNRISE remains an perfect example of silent film study.
Germany, at that time, was known for making the most important, serious films and so a German director was brought in and given a blank check to make a statement film (its final total expenses pained the studio).But the result is a powerful, timeless film on themes of betrayal, seduction, adultery, murder, and reconciliation.For today's taste, the actors somewhat overly-dramatize their actions (as typical in the silent era) BUT, just as most of us adapt quickly to reading subtitles in a foreign film, most of us also adapt to this convention to convey the message between those intermittent written screens that give dialog or explanations.My understanding is that the very first year the Academy Awards were introduced, THIS film -- made a couple years earlier -- was the VERY FIRST chosen to be honored as "Best Picture" (together with "Wings").
The film's subtitle, "A Song of Two Humans," is an apt description, as "Sunrise" feels more like a song or a poem -- where images and tone are more important than logic.The initial scenes of this film are reminiscent of Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" -- indeed, the style in which Murnau shoots these segments, using dissolve editing to superimpose one image over another to ghostly effect, made me wonder if George Stevens was perhaps influenced by this film when he made his own screen adaptation of Dreiser's novel, "A Place in the Sun." Poor farmer George O'Brien, bored with dowdy country wife Janet Gaynor, is lured into an ill-advised love affair with a siren from the big city.
At the last minute, he can't do it, and the film changes directions drastically, as O'Brien and Gaynor, who overcomes the newly founded terror of her own husband, spend a day in the city, falling in love all over again.On paper, and even thinking about it in retrospect, "Sunrise" doesn't make a lot of sense.
O'Brien becomes enamoured with Livingston, who persuades him that his wife should be got out of the way to ensure they can build a new life, without interruption, in the city.There are numerous examples of Murnau's artistic flair within this movie, whether it be shots with many different things going on within them, close-ups, overlaid shots, and many more.
This simple story of country fold who go off to the sinful city achieves greatness because of its amazing cinematography and sets, special effects, and smooth acting of Janet Gaynor, George O'Brien & Margaret Livingston.
It saw the premiere of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, the most expensive movie ever made at that point, Douglas Firbanks founding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Abel Gance's Napoleon becoming the first film to experiment with widescreen processes, and FOX Films acquiring the first sound-on-film technology, which would lead to the release of The Jazz Singer; considered the first ever "talking picture".Out of FOX's deal and amongst this all also came F.W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) a fable-like story of The Man (George O'Brien) who intends to murder The Wife (Janet Gaynor) in order to follow The Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston) into the dazzling world of city life.
Many polls rank it as the greatest silent film ever made and many rank it very high on the all time list of great movies.The plot is melodramatic, the acting in places heavy handed, and the action seemingly non-existent, at least in the eyes of the "Terminator 3" generation,yet "Sunrise" is so captivating a film that it can be watched over and over again and deliver the same punch every time.
Many polls rank it as the greatest silent film ever made and many rank it very high on the all time list of great movies.The plot is melodramatic, the acting in places heavy handed, and the action seemingly non-existent, at least in the eyes of the "Terminator 3" generation,yet "Sunrise" is so captivating a film that it can be watched over and over again and deliver the same punch every time.
In fact, like the other greats,including "Citizen Kane," you can probably get something new out of "Sunrise" every time you watch it, no matter how many times you watch.Murnau takes barren sets and dark, hallow rooms and turns them into treasure troves of lighting and nuance.
In fact, like the other greats,including "Citizen Kane," you can probably get something new out of "Sunrise" every time you watch it, no matter how many times you watch.Murnau takes barren sets and dark, hallow rooms and turns them into treasure troves of lighting and nuance.
Her face expresses her inner emotions so perfectly that some of her scenes are achingly beautiful.And the film itself received an academy award for "Most unique and artistic production," an award never given out again, maybe because no picture could live up to the standard set by "Sunrise." The new DVD version being marketed on the quiet by Fox is marvelous, with a wonderfully restored print that seems just as bright today as it must have in late 1927 when the film was released.
Her face expresses her inner emotions so perfectly that some of her scenes are achingly beautiful.And the film itself received an academy award for "Most unique and artistic production," an award never given out again, maybe because no picture could live up to the standard set by "Sunrise." The new DVD version being marketed on the quiet by Fox is marvelous, with a wonderfully restored print that seems just as bright today as it must have in late 1927 when the film was released.
The DVD includes an interesting commentary option by cinematographer John Baily and no film is better suited for this, since it tells its story brilliantly with pictures alone, so the commentary option is not a distraction.One of the great tragedies of the cinema in my view is that few people alive today have seen "Sunrise." They have no idea what they are missing..
The DVD includes an interesting commentary option by cinematographer John Baily and no film is better suited for this, since it tells its story brilliantly with pictures alone, so the commentary option is not a distraction.One of the great tragedies of the cinema in my view is that few people alive today have seen "Sunrise." They have no idea what they are missing..
Excellently done and fine performances by George O' Brien and Janet Gaynor....I usually don't like the silents but I can watch this one over and over again...(and I have)....First rate film....
Sunrise: A song of Two Humans (1927) is the first film of F.W.Murnau shot in America.It tells a story where the husband Anses (George O'Brien) falls for the city girl (Margaret Livingston).She asks her to drown his wife Indre (Janet Gaynor).He almost does so before coming to his senses.The husband and his wife fall in love again and spend an unforgettable night in the city.This movie did very well at the first ever Academy Awards.It got Oscars for best picture, unique and artistic production, best cinematography and best actress in a leading role.Janet Gaynor certainly deserved her award.She fits perfectly for the role of the wife with those innocent eyes.George O'Brien is perfect as the man who starts out bad but turns good.Also Gibson Gowland of Greed is seen in the picture as Angry Driver.This movie is beautiful to say the least.The camera work is something unique and everything else works too.A lot of good came from the silent era..
The story of temptation is simple and stripped down to the point of not even having character names for the principals (The Man, The Wife, and The Woman From the City), but the theme is timeless, and Murnau wastes no time getting to the tension.
I really enjoyed watching this movie, I thought it was very beautifully and it was a great story and told very brilliantly with it being a silent a film.
Now after 87 years I feel like no film has touched me as deeply.Sunrise is builds around a simple love triangle: a woman from the city seduces a married farmer.