Watch Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

i must have seen a different film!!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

. . . for starting the fad of having troves of life-saving tomes in nearly every American burg and hamlet. SUNRISE, a far more important and watchable film than WINGS--its fellow first-ever "Best Picture" Oscar winner--clocks in at about half of that bloated fiasco's running time. SUNRISE is set in a fishing village which lacks a library and access to such cautionary tales as novelist Theodore Dreiser's AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY. This leaves unread innocents such as the first-ever "Best Actress" Oscar winner in SUNRISE totally at the mercy of vixens "in the know" with access to big city libraries and Dreiser. One such deplorable harlot nearly succeeds in talking a naïve farm boy into committing AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY-style murder. The spotlight shown by SUNRISE upon these dangers posed by a lack of libraries inspired philanthropist Dale Carnegie to begin his nation-wide crowd-funding drive which placed "Carnegie Libraries" in hundreds of often rural locales across the USA (many of which are STILL open for business). Carnegie's library campaign--prompted by his favorite flick, SUNRISE--was such a success that it inspired his best-seller self-help book, HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE.

I found this to be a very interesting movie. At its core, Sunrise is a movie about infidelity, and the heartbreak it can cause. The editing is great here, with some very nice cuts that flow between the different scenes well. I also found the use of lighting to be very dramatic, which helped heighten the high stakes mood of the film. There are many scenes where the corners of the screen are darkened, creating an almost circular spotlight on the center of the frame. I though this was a very neat effect and it helped both to draw my eye to the action as well as make everything feel more dramatic. If I were to find fault with the movie, I would say that the character of the city girl is not very well developed. Though she is meant mainly as a temptress to lure the husband away from his wife, I would have liked so see a bit more going on with her. Overall, the movie does a great job at establishing a somber tone that really resonates and I would highly recommend it.

A woman from the city holidays in the country. There she has an affair with a local farmer, a happily married man with a young child. He is besotted with her and the life she promises for him, to the point that, upon her suggestion, he is willing to drown his wife in order to be with her. With the murder planned, he sets the wheels in motion. Will he go through with it?Directed by the legendary FW Murnau, Sunrise is a classic of the silent age. Murnau takes the viewer on an emotional and psychological roller-coaster ride. The revulsion of the thought of him killing his wife, the apprehension at whether he'll go through with it, the relief, the wonderful day they spend together, the nerve-wracking trip home, the despair and elation. A simple linear story that packs in so much emotion, wonder and intrigue.It's not all drama though – there are some delightfully funny parts, eg the photographer's statue, the pig.Powerful, searingly emotional ending.All done with no audio dialogue and minimal written dialogue. It's amazing how much emotion and plot development can be conveyed through gestures and facial expressions.Sunrise was the joint first winner of the Best Picture Oscar, in 1929. That year, and only that year, the Best Picture was split into two categories: Best Picture, Production and Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production. Wings won in the former category and Sunrise in the latter.Janet Gaynor, who gave a wonderful performance as the wife, won the first ever Best Actress Oscar for a combination of her roles in Sunrise, 7th Heaven and Street Angel.

Sunrise wrestles with themes of morality, love and redemption. For a 1920s movie, the quality of the cinematography is impressive, with the light of sunrise illuminating the screen at the film's end while cameras even move to follow the action of characters from time to time. The film also provides quality shot to shot transitions, with city landscapes and elements of a fun fair fading in and out of focus. It's no question that Gaynor and O'Brien both perform miraculously, but the evolution of their marriage over the course of the film is a spectacle to behold. The film's greatest irony lies in the boat journeys taken by the couple to and from the nearby city. Initially, the man's love for another woman provokes a failed attempt at drowning his wife which foreshadows her fall off the boat on their return journey in the storm. Though he initially ponders sacrificing his wife for his mistress, the man experiences genuine regret and despair when he thinks he's lost her. Sunrise is an admirable look into both the fortitude of marriage and the challenges that it constantly brings about.