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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

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.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Principally I write to let my fellow silent-film fans know that the new release (Oct. 1, 2015; UPC 024543991151)by Fox Cinema Archives does contain the wonderful score composed by Christopher Caliendo. Often the soundtrack can make or break a release and the music here is wonderful. It is the same as found on the earlier and quite expensive Murnau, Borzage and Fox box set. Secondly, I would take issue with those who have said here that City Girl is not up to Murnau's earlier standards. In that regard I would point out that every Van Gogh is not "Starry Night." I agree that this film is not a masterpiece like Sunrise or The Last Laugh, but it is nonetheless a terrifically rendered film. The cinematography is stunning as is the art direction. It really captures the flavor of the late 1920s and serves in several ways as an "inadvertent documentary." The scenes in Chicago are a virtual snapshot of urban living and the footage of pre-mechanized farming is also worthy of note. I for one had never seen a mule-drawn threshing machine in operation. It really is fascinating. As for the cast, I've never seen a bad performance by Charles Farrell and he is absolutely believable in this role. And Mary Duncan is simply radiant. Strong performances by Edith Yorke, a young Anne Shirley, Guinn Williams and the always superb David Torrence make for an all around enjoyable film. In fact, this is one of my favorite "second tier" silent films. I think it is well worth your while.

This is it. I've so far thought of and approached Murnau more with sensible appreciation than passionate investment where I'm not only swept off my feet, but myself allow to be. "Nosferatu" (1922), "Der letzte Mann" (1924) and "Sunrise" (1927) exhibit his genius, but for some reason this works for me wholly differently. Perhaps I come to this from the right direction: "L'Atalante" (1934), "Coeur fidèle" (1923), "Der Blaue Engel" (1930), "Days of Heaven" (1978), and so on. It does feel like there has been something missing in its place, now domiciled, referred to by these films I love. Now I feel like I've always carried the film with me.You might know Murnau disliked intertitles, and I guess this would perfectly work without them, since I find the visual language even stronger and more lucid than in "Der letzte Mann", which, if you've seen that film, might be even frivolously arrogant an argument. But the way he constructs each scene to convey things visually, not only plot and "dialogue" but also atmosphere, is panoptic, personal yet fluent.The Blu-ray released by the Masters of Cinema (Region B) is shockingly wonderful in quality. I'm not partial to the Christopher Caliendo score. Someone somewhere (vague enough?) remarked how on occasion it seems like the score is competing with the image instead of complementing it and I paraphrase because there wouldn't be a better way to express how I feel about it. Indeed, I prefer seeing the film without sound – Murnau carries the film forward so eloquently, effortlessly through the image and editing that all emotion disseminates vividly. All of this is so masterful I wouldn't be too much out of my wits if I argued for this film to be among the very pinnacle of silent film – and any cinema for that matter.The scene where they first arrive together and run through the field might be the most exhilarating film moment ever.

Charles Farrell once commented that while Janet Gaynor was prepared to fight for good parts he was more content to take whatever parts Fox threw at him. The result was that Farrell got the reputation that he was no good without Gaynor but this movie proves the assumption wrong. No studio embraced the exciting new European cinema more than Fox Studios and William Fox gave his new director, F.W. Murnau, a free hand to direct "Sunrise". Surprisingly this movie, which was called "Our Daily Bread" during production, was critically condemned. Murnau refused to re-shoot portions of it with dialogue so it could be released as a part talkie so two lesser directors (A. Van Buren and A. Erikson) were bought in with deplorable results - and this was the version that was available for years. Fortunately in the 1970s the original version was found and restored so people had a chance to see the powerful original.Lem (Farrell) is a farm boy on a mission - his parents have entrusted him to sell 25,000 bushells of wheat for a particular price - or there will be serious consequences to their livelihood. His parents are depending on him. When he arrives in Chicago he finds that corn prices have pushed wheat down and even though he sells quickly he worries about how his father will take the loss.Tough talking waitress, Kate (Mary Duncan) is not so tough, she dreams of the country (a romanticizied place she sees in paintings and holiday billboards), has a "hopeful geranium" and a mechanical canary that can transport her to dreamy places. Impulsively, she marries Lem, who is a frequent diner visitor and who she believes will give her the life she has dreamed about but when Lem wires his parents, "Waitress" is the only word that registers with his father and he is against her before she even arrives!!! She instantly wins over Lem's mother and little sister, Marie (Dawn O'Day, later known as Anne Shirley) with her warmth and honesty but his father is master and everyone must bow to his will - he is determined to drive Kate from the farm!!! Things get off to an awful start when Pa Tunstine (very well played by David Torrance) slaps her and Lem is too weak to stand up to him.In come the hired help led by lecherous Mac (Richard Alexander, who was an excellent thuggish villain of the early sound period) - he is just itching to cause trouble - Guinn Williams is also one of the hands. Mary now has to fend off Mac's unwanted embraces while trying to teach Lem how to be a man.Mary Duncan is fantastic as the city girl. Like Eleanor Boardman's Mary in "The Crowd", her Kate initially comes across as tough, but in reality she is a decent girl who hopes that life in the country will be clean and fresh with plenty of room to breathe. It is a pity that Marywas not given more expansive parts but was doomed forever to be the slinky temptress.

'City Girl' is a tantalising glimpse of what sort of Hollywood career F.W. Murnau might have had, if not for his untimely death. In some ways, this film resembles Murnau's masterpiece 'Sunrise' told in reverse: here, a young couple fall in love in the city (Chicago), then travel to the countryside (Minnesota), where they bitterly separate, then reconcile.The two romantic leads are excellent. Charles Farrell gives possibly the best performance of his career here, easily surpassing his performances in similar roles directed by Frank Borzage. Mary Duncan is a revelation: why didn't she go on to a significant career? She shows herself here to be a talented actress as well as attractive in a believable way, without the artificial prettiness that so many Hollywood actresses of this time had. The scene in which Farrell and Duncan chase each other through the field of grain is delightfully erotic: a very convincing evocation of love mingled with sexual attraction.Murnau was a master at directing crowd scenes. I was deeply impressed by two scenes in this film: one in a crowded railway car, the other in a crowded restaurant. In both scenes, the people in the background are doing exactly what they would be doing if this were real life. (Two children are running up the corridor of the train.) Compare this with so many other Hollywood films, in which the background extras are obviously frustrated actors trying to call attention to themselves. I was amused to spot Murnau doing a Hitchcock-like cameo as a customer in the restaurant. Much less convincing is a scene depicting a crowded Chicago street. Although the very complicated set for this scene is technically impressive, it's clearly a constructed set on an indoor soundstage, not an actual exterior. Also, I was displeased to see in 'City Girl' not one but two examples of that dire movie cliché, in which a character opens a newspaper and conveniently sees a headline that relates directly to his own personal situation.There is a very impressive sequence depicting the Chicago grain exchange, and also a clever visual transition from the countryside to the city: we see farmer David Torrence slicing a loaf of bread (aiming the large knife directly at his own chest), followed by a cut to a waitress in the restaurant operating an automatic bread-slicing machine, which was a high-tech gizmo back in 1930. All of the characters in 'City Girl' are plausible and well-acted. I'll rate this movie 9 out of 10. Herr Murnau, if only you hadn't taken that auto trip...