Week Seven: Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Director: F.W. Murnau

Producer: William Fox

Writer: Carl Mayer

Cinematographer: Charles Rosher and Karl Struss

Music: Emo Rapee and Hugo Riesenfeld

Studio: Fox

Starring: Janet Gaynor (The Wife), George O’Brien (The Man), Margaret Livingston (The Woman from the City)

You can watch the entirety of Sunrise for free on YouTube 

Before You Watch the Movie
(First make sure you have read the introduction to this series)

By 1927, the movies had experienced rapid and exponential growth in many areas and what was once a stiff art had become alive with movement. At the forefront of this new style of artistic cinema was German director F.W. Murnau, who had directed films in his home country for the production company UFA. UFA was a breeding ground for new cinematic innovations from the likes of Fritz Lang and Murnau in the twenties. In 1926 Murnau left Germany and came to Hollywood to work for producer William Fox and their first film together was the director’s most famous film. There is an incredible amount of visual artistry used in Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, but the first difference you may notice is that sound is different here than other silent pictures. That is because Sunrise utilized Fox’s Movietone system that allowed for the insertion of sounds into the film like special effects. Overall, this has little effect on the film but was a sign of how Hollywood would be changing in the very near future. Talking pictures were coming on fast but cinema was first a visual art and during the mid-to-late twenties silent storytelling was at an all-time high, with no greater example being that of Sunrise.

Murnau was closely associated with German Expressionism during his time at UFA and Sunrise is no different. There are numerous examples throughout of the film's style, including odd angles, oversized sets, forced perspective, use of shadow and light, as well as dramatic foreground mise-en-scene (French for “placing on stage:” essentially the components that make up what you see on the screen such as but not limited to set lighting, composition, movement of camera and characters, as well as set and costume design.)

Sunrise has some definite hallmarks of Expressionism...

...such as oversized sets...

...dramatic lighting...

...use of shadow...

...and shots with depth.

You can watch the entirety of Sunrise for free on YouTube 

After You Watch the Movie

Though other directors made strong use of Expressionism, none moved the camera like Murnau did. Long gone are the day of static camera and stagey compositions, from the very first Murnau’s camera rides in on a boat then rises up to get a full view of the village. 

Later on, we get a truly amazing tracking shot in which, in one singular shot the camera starts out behind the man, then moves to his right, then back behind, then to his left, then he is walking straight at the camera. The camera then moves through the branches of a tree and out into a clearing by the water where the Woman from the City is standing in the moonlight. 

One continuous movement of the camera follows the Man to meet the Woman from the City.

This is film without limits, in which the characters and camera can move freely, creating a free flowing experience that unlocks so many cinematic possibilities. Go to any movie today and you’ll see the camera is constantly moving, following for uninterrupted action that serves to further immerse the viewer in what they are watching and the experience those on screen are having. A prime example happens later in the film when the camera enters into the carnival and passes through a large entrance area full of people making their way in. It would have been much easier to have an establishing shot of the outside of the carnival then cut to the inside, however, by slowly moving the camera inside it replicates the excitement that the main characters would have felt as the entered. The camera is the viewer’s eye to the cinematic world on the screen and the more the camera sees, the more the audience experiences.

The entrance to the carnival begins with a spinning wheel on a black background, the black is soon filled in with the front of the carnival. (This visual of white images on a black background is striking and would become important in the work of Busby Berkeley a few years later.) 

White on stark black creates a striking image...

...and was a favorite of Busby Berkeley (from "The Lullaby of Broadway," Gold Diggers of 1935)

The effect of the lone wheel and the completed image is an example of multiple exposures, in which two or more images are superimposed upon one another. Multiple exposures were not a new photography trick (think about fake ghost pictures for Victorian era) and they had been used to great effect in film previously, (see for a prime example 1921’s The Phantom Carriage) but Sunrise takes multiple exposures to a level previously unheard of and that still hasn’t really been equaled in terms of pure artistry and creativity. Murnau uses the multiple exposures to show a character's state of mind:

Multiple exposures show the Man's inner turmoil...

...the Man and the Wife's oblivious bliss at being reunited...

...and the tipsy rapture of their love for one another.

Though it is best known for its wonderful visual style, there is a poignant romantic story being told here, albeit one that is purposefully vague and allegorical. The characters have no names and there is little to no exposition besides the basics necessary. The subtitle of the film A Song of Two Humans is a clue to the intentions of the film: Sunrise is a song, a poem in which visual symbolism is used to fill in any gaps in the story. Even for a silent movie, there is very little dialogue with entire scenes playing out with little to nothing for the audience to follow except the images on the screen. 

Visual storytelling: the Man and the Woman from the City's passionate embrace, juxtaposed with...

...the Wife tearfully holding her child.

This is Murnau’s style and it works perfectly: never at any point during the movie is there any confusion about what’s going on in the story or scenario. Take the scene at the hair salon for example, in which both the Man and the Wife are the object of unwanted attention by the opposite sex. Based purely on the faces the character’s make, we get a completely clear picture of the entire situation.

No words necessary.

Also notable in the film is the character of the Woman from the City, who is a godmother of forties and fifties film noir femme fatale: a seductive female character who manipulates those she has enthralled into actions that benefit her. The Woman from the City uses her wiles to convince the Man not only to run away to the city with her but also to murder his wife and sell his farm so that he can be free and rich. Another hallmark of both noir and the femme fatale is that the Woman from the City embodies a mixture of lust and violence, such as the scene in which the Man’s attempts at strangling her turn into passionate lovemaking.

The Woman from the City: an early femme fatale, mixing violence and lust.

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is, even today, a stunningly beautiful and artistic film that was the peak of visual storytelling in the silent era. It was also, unfortunately also the beginning of the end of pure cinematic storytelling. Just a few weeks after the release of Sunrise, Warner Bros. released The Jazz Singer which featured synchronized singing and dialogue. Hollywood and movies were changed forever and it was just a matter of a few years before silent film would be completely left behind and a long frustrating period of transition would be taking place.

See Also

The Last Laugh (1924) dir. F.W. Murnau
Murnau’s film most similar to Sunrise. A human drama with a strong emphasis on visual storytelling. The first film in which the “unchained camera” was used, allowing for unprecedented freedom of movement.
Watch it for free on YouTube

Faust (1926) dir. F.W. Murnau
Murnau’s last film before coming to America, a haunting version of Goethe’s tale featuring spectacular visual effects.

Watch it for free on YouTube

City Girl (1930) dir. F.W. Murnau
made with talking and silent versions with breathtaking cinematography.
Watch it for free on YouTube

Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) dir. F.W. Murnau
made in collaboration with the pioneering documentarian Robert J. Flaherty (Nanook of the North, Moana). Shot on location in Tahiti and released several months after Murnau’s untimely death at the age of 42.

Watch it for free on YouTube

Let me know what you think either here or on Twitter @bottlesofsmoke