Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is an incredibly close-to-life, touching, tender love story, where an attractive woman (Margaret Livingston) comes from the city and sets her eyes on a local farmer (George O'Brien), who, might I add, is married with a baby. The Woman from the City selfishly convinces him to drown his wife (Janet Gaynor) in a lake so they can be together in the City. The farmer tries, but cannot bring himself to do the horrible deed of murdering his wife. Oh boy, does it come back to haunt him.
This movie is filled with beautiful imagery (in fact, some of the best I've ever seen in a movie. The craft behind this movie is simply magical) which just screams German Expressionism (the director, F.W. Murnau, was German). The way they set scenes out, the links between shots and the deep meaning in some scenes is incredibly clever and very touching. I really appreciate all the hard work they put into making this movie.
The acting is (surprisingly) also very believable and still, till this day, extremely realistic. The expressions, the gestures, the actions all seem natural, realistic. It hasn't dated at all, and I don't think this has any 'silent acting' (which definitely does look dated). In other words, I thought the acting was amazing. The characters really drew them in and you could feel what they were feeling.
If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you get the DVD and watch it! The DVD is fantastic (very crisp and clear colour), plus I found the commentary very, very useful and showed me things I didn't know or didn't realize. It is extremely informative and very useful, I definitely recommend listening to it.
This is the third silent film I've seen, and this is possibly my favorite. A very dark film, but so wonderful and touching at the same time. The imagery itself is worth a look - the fine details are excellent and a joy to watch. A beautiful romance/melodrama fit for people of all ages (I'm 15 and I really, really enjoyed it). Absolutely breathtaking.
This movie is filled with beautiful imagery (in fact, some of the best I've ever seen in a movie. The craft behind this movie is simply magical) which just screams German Expressionism (the director, F.W. Murnau, was German). The way they set scenes out, the links between shots and the deep meaning in some scenes is incredibly clever and very touching. I really appreciate all the hard work they put into making this movie.
The acting is (surprisingly) also very believable and still, till this day, extremely realistic. The expressions, the gestures, the actions all seem natural, realistic. It hasn't dated at all, and I don't think this has any 'silent acting' (which definitely does look dated). In other words, I thought the acting was amazing. The characters really drew them in and you could feel what they were feeling.
If you haven't seen this movie, I suggest you get the DVD and watch it! The DVD is fantastic (very crisp and clear colour), plus I found the commentary very, very useful and showed me things I didn't know or didn't realize. It is extremely informative and very useful, I definitely recommend listening to it.
This is the third silent film I've seen, and this is possibly my favorite. A very dark film, but so wonderful and touching at the same time. The imagery itself is worth a look - the fine details are excellent and a joy to watch. A beautiful romance/melodrama fit for people of all ages (I'm 15 and I really, really enjoyed it). Absolutely breathtaking.