Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

(source: tmdb.org)

In 1920s Hollywood and the German cinema industry were rivals, but they also co-operated, mostly through exchange of ideas and, more importantly, talents. Hollywood fared better in such exchanges and probably the most spectacular example was provided by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, the celebrated director of German Expressionist classics like Nosferatu. His Hollywood debut, 1927 drama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, is often considered to be the best silent film ever made.

The film is based on The Excursion to Tilisit, a short story by German writer Herman Sudermann. After the opening titles that explain that the theme and characters are universal, the plot begins in an undefined village where protagonist (played by George O’Brien), simply named “Man” in the credits, lives on a farm with Wife (played by Janet Gaynor) and their little son. Village and its picturesque surroundings are often visited by holidaymakers, including the Woman from the City (played by Margaret Livingston) with whom Man has an adulterous affair. She nudges him to leave the farm and start living with her in the bright, exciting city and, when he says that he can’t because of wife, she suggests that he drowns her and make it look like a boating accident. He reluctantly agrees to her scheme and brings Wife to the boat, but when he is about to kill her, he can’t. Wife realises that something is wrong and, when they reach shore, she runs to trolley. Man catches trolley and they travel to city where he begs forgiveness. After a while, when they experience all kinds of exciting adventures in the city, their love is regenerated. But, upon return, fate would test them again.

Sunrise is actually not the silent film in traditional sense. During the production, Warner Bros. was already experimenting with Vitaphone sound system that would use in The Jazz Singer. Fox Pictures had its own system known as Fox Movietone and employed it to Sunrise, although the added sound included only music by Hugo Riesenfeld and sound effects. Murnau’s film is nevertheless considered the pinnacle of silent cinema and it is mainly due to innovative and effective use of cinematography by Charles Strosser and Karl Struss, as well as ingenious technique of using camera and simple optical effects that created impressive images often described as visual poetry. This might be seen in the beginning when Man’s dilemma whether to kill Wife or not is illustrated by conflicting images of Wife and Woman from City around his head. When Man and Wife enter the city, the place looks both realistic and fantastic, just as it would look like the protagonists who have never been to such place. Murnau, invited by studio head William Fox with specific purpose of making Expressionist film in Hollywood, uses the sets instead of actual locations and those sets, combined with optical effects and matte painting, look magical.

Mayer’s script tries to make the story look not only generic, but simple. Protagonist is faced with eternal dilemma countless men had encountered since the beginning of time – whether to reconcile with domesticity and boredom of married life or to seek new, exciting but dangerous and ultimately futile alternative. This theme is explored not only through Murnau’s brilliant direction, but also through clever casting. George O’Brien, who was one of the popular leading man of silent Hollywood, plays Man with ease and natural style which is very rare in over-theatrical world of silent cinema. Janet Gaynor, who was given archaic clothes, funny hat and blonde wig in order to make her plain compared with dark-haired flapper seductress Margaret Livingston, plays her role wonderfully and the very first Oscar for Best Actress she received for this film (together with her performances in 7th Heaven and Street Angel) is quite deserved. Murnau, on the other hand, doesn’t allow his film to be drowned in seriousness and old-fashioned melodrama. He allows brief moments of levity, especially in the city where Man and Wife and their rustic ways provide contrast to “sophisticated” urban life in humorous ways. The result is a film that, despite being silent and despite being melodramatic, is quite capable of appealing to modern audience and leaves impression as something decades ahead of its time.

Sadly, Sunrise, which many described as the peak of silent cinema, also represented something of a swan song. With The Jazz Singer audience suddenly developed taste for characters on screen talking and many of the techniques Murnau and other silent masters proved unusable in the new world of sound, ever-present microphones and bulky soundproof cameras. It would take some time for Hollywood and the rest of world cinema to adapt to new realities. Sunrise, despite universally hailed by critics and even receiving special Oscar for Best Unique and Artistic Picture, proved too “artsy” and silent for general audience. In 1939 Germany director Veit Harlan made sound remake under title The Journey to Tilsit starring Kristina Sönderbaum and Philip Dorn.

RATING: 9/10 (+++++)

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After critical and artistic success of “The Last Laugh”, expressionist master director Murnau was lured to America. This did not mean though, that his expressionist mindset would be left behind, au contraire. His skills in this regard was probably at the highpoint and even Lang would be hard pressed to out-do him. Where Murnau excells compared to Lang could be said to be in the existentialist expression of the human experience. Lang was exceptional in clean cut symbolism and plot devices made of expressions. Murnau was untouchable in creating emotional and delicately felt expressions that are so difficult to capture and I would argue, no one have ever done it better.

The problem that arise with such a director, is that it exposes all the weaknesses in the acting, because it has to be of the highest caliber to fit the level of artistry. The actors in Sunrise do a solid job, but cannot quite match the ambitious level of Murnau’s ideas. I would think that it probably comes down to a different acting culture in the statesand, a general lack of understanding of what the expressionist directors where actually trying to accomplish. Comparing the leading actors here to say those in M ( check out my recent review) is like night and day. They were literally schooled in this way of shooting. O’Brian is clearly the best of the two and he has the toughest part by far, which helped secure at least a solid foundation.

A man has ended up in the claws of city girl seductress who twists his mind into letting her drain him for affecti9n and money. His obedient wife is going down in depressive dispair as she can see no way to wake him up from his hypnosis. The city woman manages to convince the man to kill his wife while on the sea. The man regains his senses in the last second, but the wife clearly knows what was supposed to go on. They actually end up in the city as he chases after her to beg for forgiveness. She is scared to death but slowly warns up to him as he cries out his regrets.

The second act is basically one long, slightly slapsticky spending spree joyride theough restaurants, barbershops and fairgrounds by the man to make up for his deeds. This is in my opinion the low part of the movie. It am not quite sure why it was kept in such a focus but i think it must be to cater to female moviegoers shopaholic dreams or something. I don’t find it likely that a murder attempt can be made up for by a visit to a sandwich bar and buying a lollipop at a tivoli. I might be wrong but fear Murnau succumbed to a jack of all trades “I can do some slapstick also”. And maybe he could, it just does’nt fit with the story’s seriousness and the expressionist style.

A case in point could be that all the expressionist parts dwell on implicit descriptions on “negative” emotions while he has to use explicit presentations of joy and laughter for the positive moments. Therfore the artistic flow is disjoint in these two parts of the movie. As we reach the third section, the darker themes comes back and the expressionism swells again. Maybe it is because I am such a sucker for the expressionist touches, but I do believe the second act drags the quality down considerable notches.

But the expressionist touches in the first and the third act are fantastic. It is a smorgasbord of one beautiful and emotional expression after the other. There are so many scenes that are iconic to me, not least a dozen or so multiple exposures that blends so well with the emotional state of the male lead. There are effortless dollyshots that moves over impressively long shots and the inventiveness and the craftmanship of the cinematography is just a joy to behold.

There is a sort of a symmetry in the plot and to some extend the story going to and from the city over the sea in the boat. This kind of duality lets say, is also a trademark of Murnau and the expressionists. Like early on when the wife holds her baby in her arms and then it cuts to the city woman holding the man in her arms not unlike a child. Look out for such touches, it is the “spice” of moviewatching.

8/10

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

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