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89 years ago...
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
Director: F. W. Murnau
Country: United States
Length: 95 minutes
Type: Silent, Drama, Romance
Murnau's first film in the US, is a real fusion of the darkly emotional and technically sophisticated German film-making style and the joyously romantic spirit of American Cinema of this period. Case in point; the film starts off showing the misery-drenched breakdown of a marriage (to the point of contemplating murder) before devoting the last two-thirds to the couple rekindling their passion and love for each other. 'Sunrise' just about gets away with it, through shear narrative and film-making genius but I'm still not quite sure you can come back from plotting-murder, to joyful romantic finale in less than 90 minutes. I was still left with the uneasy feeling that the hero of the story (that I was somehow rooting for by the end) isn't actually deep-down a total psychopath, who is going to murder his wife some years after the films perfect ending.
Technically, 'Sunrise' manages many new innovations. The camera glides around in long unbroken takes, that are astonishing given the time and equipment available. It is full of near-perfect FX shots, some are so convincing that I didn't know they were FX until listening to the audio-commentary. Most notably, it features an actual optical soundtrack. No actual dialogue but it does have a synchronised score and limited soundFX. This was used early on to create the first "jump scare" I've seen. A horse suddenly came into frame during a tense scene, a loud noise played and I did jump . With his very first go at limited sound, Murnau is even using "non-diegetic" soundFX to convey emotion.
There are two versions of the movie on the blu-ray I've got. A comparatively blurry, dull but totally watchable transfer of the original American cut (with cleverly animated intertitles) and a beautifully sharp and rich transfer of a shorter Czech-language version of the movie. I went for the full American cut but I'll view the better looking Czech cut next time. The better source could even be fanedited to conform to the longer cut .
Interesting fact: 'Sunrise' and 'Wings' were essentially tied for the first ever Oscar for Best-Picture. 'Sunrise' seems to have more of a lasting reputation but that might be because no copies of 'Wings' were thought to survive until 1992, so critically it might have some catching up to do. Although 'Wings' isn't included in the 1001 book I'm following, I fully intend to be watching it very soon for comparison. I'm also interested to see a Clara Bow movie, having recently seen a documentary about her on the BBC. She was one of the biggest movie stars in History but due to many of her films being lost (and other reasons) she is largely forgotten. She is where the phrase "It girl" comes from.
More Buster Keaton next. Always welcome.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
Director: F. W. Murnau
Country: United States
Length: 95 minutes
Type: Silent, Drama, Romance
Murnau's first film in the US, is a real fusion of the darkly emotional and technically sophisticated German film-making style and the joyously romantic spirit of American Cinema of this period. Case in point; the film starts off showing the misery-drenched breakdown of a marriage (to the point of contemplating murder) before devoting the last two-thirds to the couple rekindling their passion and love for each other. 'Sunrise' just about gets away with it, through shear narrative and film-making genius but I'm still not quite sure you can come back from plotting-murder, to joyful romantic finale in less than 90 minutes. I was still left with the uneasy feeling that the hero of the story (that I was somehow rooting for by the end) isn't actually deep-down a total psychopath, who is going to murder his wife some years after the films perfect ending.
Technically, 'Sunrise' manages many new innovations. The camera glides around in long unbroken takes, that are astonishing given the time and equipment available. It is full of near-perfect FX shots, some are so convincing that I didn't know they were FX until listening to the audio-commentary. Most notably, it features an actual optical soundtrack. No actual dialogue but it does have a synchronised score and limited soundFX. This was used early on to create the first "jump scare" I've seen. A horse suddenly came into frame during a tense scene, a loud noise played and I did jump . With his very first go at limited sound, Murnau is even using "non-diegetic" soundFX to convey emotion.
There are two versions of the movie on the blu-ray I've got. A comparatively blurry, dull but totally watchable transfer of the original American cut (with cleverly animated intertitles) and a beautifully sharp and rich transfer of a shorter Czech-language version of the movie. I went for the full American cut but I'll view the better looking Czech cut next time. The better source could even be fanedited to conform to the longer cut .
Interesting fact: 'Sunrise' and 'Wings' were essentially tied for the first ever Oscar for Best-Picture. 'Sunrise' seems to have more of a lasting reputation but that might be because no copies of 'Wings' were thought to survive until 1992, so critically it might have some catching up to do. Although 'Wings' isn't included in the 1001 book I'm following, I fully intend to be watching it very soon for comparison. I'm also interested to see a Clara Bow movie, having recently seen a documentary about her on the BBC. She was one of the biggest movie stars in History but due to many of her films being lost (and other reasons) she is largely forgotten. She is where the phrase "It girl" comes from.
More Buster Keaton next. Always welcome.