See all movies from the 1920s
1920s
SUNRISE (1927)
U.S. (Fox) 97m Silent BW
Director: F.W. Murnau
Producer: William Fox
Screenplay: Hermann Sudermann, Carl Mayer
Photography: Charles Rosher, Karl Struss
Music: Timothy Brock, Hugo Riesenfeld
Cast: George OBrien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing, J. Farrell MacDonald, Ralph Sipperly, Jane Winton, Arthur Housman, Eddie Boland, Barry Norton
Oscars: William Fox (unique and artistic picture), Janet Gaynor (actress), Charles Rosher, Karl Struss (photography)
Oscar nomination: Rochus Gliese (art direction)
Trivia buffs might note that although many history books often cite Wings (1927) as the first Best Picture recipient at the Academy Awards, the honor actually went to two films: William Wellmans Wings, for production, and F.W. Murnaus Sunrise, for unique and artistic production. If the latter category sounds more impressive than the former, that explains (in part at least) why Sunrise, and not Wings, remains one of the most revered films of all time. William Fox initially drew Murnau to America with the promise of a big budget and total creative freedom, and the fact that Murnau made the most of it with this stunning masterpiece ratified his peerless reputation as a cinematic genius.
Sunrise itself is deceptively simple. Subtitled somewhat enigmatically A Song of Two Humans, the film focuses on a country-dwelling married couple whose lives are disrupted by a temptress from the city. But Murnau draws waves of emotion from what could have been a rote melodrama, further enhanced by a bevy of groundbreaking filmmaking techniques. Most notable is the use of sound effects, pushing silent cinema one step closer to the talkie eraan achievement unfairly overshadowed by The Jazz Singer, released later in 1927. Murnau also creatively manipulates the use and effect of title cards (three years earlier, he had directed the title-free The Last Laugh).
The most striking aspect of Sunrise is its camera work. Working with a pair of cinematographers, Charles Rosher and Karl Struss, Murnau borrowed from his own experience in the German Expressionist movement as well as from the pastoral portraits of the Dutch masters, particularly Jan Vermeer. Linked with graceful and inventive camera movements and accented with in-camera tricks (such as multiple exposures), each scene of Sunrise looks like a masterful still photograph.
As magical as the imagery may be, the very simplicity of the story lends Sunrise a formidable dramatic weight. George OBrien, pondering the murder of his innocent wife Janet Gaynor, is wracked with guilt, and his wife responds with appropriate terror once his intentions become obvious. The boat trip leading to her intended demise is fraught with both suspense and an odd sense of sadness, as the good OBrien struggles to bring his monstrous thoughts to their fruition. Margaret Livingston, as the urban seductress, in many ways seems like the feminine equivalent of Murnaus vampire Count Orlok (from the 1922 film Nosferatu), relentlessly preying on poor OBriens soul. In one scene he is even beset by spectral images of her, surrounding him, clutching at him,
and provoking him with her murderous desires.
Alas, the film turned out to be a box-office flop, and Murnau died in a car accident a few years later. But Sunrise remains a benchmark by which all other filmssilent or notshould be measured, a pinnacle of craft in a more primitive age whose sophistication belies the resources at the time. Its shadow looms over several subsequent great works, from Orson Welless Citizen Kane (1941) to Jean Cocteaus Beauty and the Beast (1946), yet at the same time its own brilliance is inimitable. JKl
See all movies from the 1920s
1920s
THE GENERAL (1927)
U.S. (Buster Keaton, United Artists) 75m Silent BW (Sepiatone)
Director: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton
Producer: Buster Keaton, Joseph M. Schenck
Screenplay: Al Boasberg, Clyde Bruckman
Photography: Bert Haines, Devereaux Jennings
Music: Robert Israel, William P. Perry
Cast: Marion Mack, Charles Smith, Richard Allen, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley, Frederick Vroom, Joe Keaton, Mike Donlin, Tom Nawn, Buster Keaton
Keaton made several filmsOur Hospitality (1923), Sherlock, Jr. (1924), Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928)that may be counted among the finest (and funniest) in cinemas entire comic output, but none is as strong a contender to the title of the greatest comedy ever made as this timeless masterpiece. It isnt merely the constant stream of great gags, nor the way they derive wholly from situation and character rather than existing in isolation from the films drama. Rather, what makes The General so extraordinary is that it is superlative on every level: in terms of its humor, suspense, historical reconstruction, character study, visual beauty, and technical precision. One might even argue that it comes as close to flawless perfection as any feature ever made, comic or otherwise.
Much of the pleasure derives from the narrative itself, inspired by a book about the real-life exploits of a group of Northern soldiers who during the Civil War disguised themselves as Southerners to steal a train, which they drove north to rejoin their Unionist comrades until they were caught and executed. Keaton, understandably given that he was making a comedy, dropped the executions and changed the heroic perspective to that of a Southerner, Johnny Gray, a railway-driver who stoically if somewhat absurdly goes in solo pursuit of Unionist spies when they steal both his engineThe Generaland, inside it, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), the other love of his life. The films first half follows Johnnys rejection by the army with his chase after the train, which he recaptures behind enemy lines; the second half depicts his flight (with Annabelle) from the Union troops to his hometown whereafter handing over the Girl, The General, and a real Northern army general inadvertently brought along for the ridehe is acclaimed as a hero.