For its time, SUNRISE was a masterpiece of silent film. The print shown on TCM included bits of street noise, musical background score and bells tolling from a tower or for a church wedding. Combined with the sights and sounds of a bygone era, the acting by JANET GAYNOR and GEORGE O'BRIEN doesn't seem as overly melodramatic as some silent screen acting is. And F.W. Murnau's excellent use of tracking shots and overlapping visuals to suggest what the actors are thinking, is done with stylish flair. The photography itself suggests German expressionism as the mood of the film.
The story is deceptively simple--a husband goes astray after an affair with a seductive woman in the city. The woman convinces him to kill his wife and leave the countryside for a city life with her. The boating scene builds to a frenzied climax when the husband convincingly changes his mind just as he is about to hover menacingly over the frightened wife. How things turn after that point is what makes the story (and the film) so great.
Gaynor and O'Brien both give priceless performances that will keep you wanting to see how all the strands of the story work out. Viewers will get drawn into the story from the start and be rewarded by watching the entire film unwind in its own dreamlike way. Highly recommended.
The story is deceptively simple--a husband goes astray after an affair with a seductive woman in the city. The woman convinces him to kill his wife and leave the countryside for a city life with her. The boating scene builds to a frenzied climax when the husband convincingly changes his mind just as he is about to hover menacingly over the frightened wife. How things turn after that point is what makes the story (and the film) so great.
Gaynor and O'Brien both give priceless performances that will keep you wanting to see how all the strands of the story work out. Viewers will get drawn into the story from the start and be rewarded by watching the entire film unwind in its own dreamlike way. Highly recommended.