Independent Films, Film Profiles

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
by F._W._Murnau

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), also known as Sunrise, is an American film directed by German film director F. W. Murnau. The story was adapted by Carl Mayer from the short story Die Reise nach Tilsit by Hermann Sudermann.Sunrise won an Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Production at the first ever Oscar ceremony in 1929. In 1989, this film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in their National Film Registry. In a 2002 critics' poll for the British Film Institute, Sunrise was named the seventh-best film in the history of motion pictures.In 2007, the film was chosen #82 on the 10th anniversary update of the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies list of great films. Sunrise is one of the first with a soundtrack of music and sound effects recorded in the then-new Fox Movietone sound-on-film system. Much of the exterior shooting was done at Lake Arrowhead, California.The film tells a fable of a married farmer, The Man (George O'Brien) who gives up dinner with The Wife (Janet Gaynor) to continue an affair with The Woman From The City (Margaret Livingston).The Woman convinces The Man that he should drown The Wife, sell the farm and move with her to The City. They decide he should take her out on a boat trip, commit the crime, and say it was an accident. The Wife agrees to go on the trip, yearning for any bit of time and affection from her husband, but soon grows suspicious of his behavior.The two go out on a boat to the City. Halfway across the Man stands up and makes ready to throw the Wife overboard. Looking into her eyes he realizes he can't do it. He sits back down heavily and begins frantically rowing for the shore. When the boat lands, the Wife flees. The Man follows her.Eventually the two end up in the City. The Man, desperate to apologize and make things right, ends up following the Wife throughout the City until they reach a church. Going inside, they find a wedding in progress. As the couple marrying swear their vows, the Man begins to cry and remembers why he fell in love with the Wife to begin with. Arm-in-arm they leave the church.Much of the rest of the film simply follows them on their adventure through the City, which includes having their picture taken, going to an amusement park and chasing a drunk pig. Finally they head back to the boat and begin to row home.During the trip back, however, a storm blows up. The Man rows as fast as he can, but in the end the boat begins to sink. His last act on the boat is to secure the Wife to a bundle of reeds brought aboard originally to help in the planned murder. Now he hopes they will act as a liferaft for the Wife.The boat goes under, and the Man eventually ends up on shore. Of the Wife, there is no sign....Stricken with grief, the man is returned to his home by the local villagers. Later his mistress calls out to him, but his despair and loneliness turn to rage and he chases after the mistress in a blind fury. He eventually catches her and begins to strangle her, but before he can, there arises a commotion from the villagers who claim they found his wife. He releases his ex-mistress and goes to see his wife who is indeed alive, and the film fades to black as they embrace while the sun rises.