alr

Sunrise

Screening on Film
Directed by F.W. Murnau.
With George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.
US, 1927, 35mm, black & white, silent, 35 min.
With musical score.

The great German director Murnau, known especially for his use of moving camera shots to explore three-dimensional space, arrived in Hollywood as sound films were coming into vogue. His first American film was shot silent but released with a musical track. The melodramatic plot, though based on a German novel, was typical Hollywood fare; but Murnau, along with renowned cameramen Karl Struss and Charles Rosher transformed the material by merging the psychological realism of the domestic drama with a lyrical depiction of both the quiet country village and the bustling city, as the protagonists journey through the different landscapes toward reconciliation.

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