In 1927, German film director F.W. Murnau (known for his role in German Expressionism) was invited by William Fox to make an Expressionist film for Hollywood and in return, Murnau created a film that would simply become a true classic and a true masterpiece with "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans".The film is highly regarded as a masterpiece and is featured in the American Film Institute's "100 Movies List of Great Films" (#82) and the British Film Institute's critic's poll as the seventh best film in motion pictures. The film won an Academy Award for "Unique and Artistic Production" at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 (including "Best Actress in a Leading Role" for Janet Gaynor and "Best Cinematography" for Charles Rosher and Karl Struss) and was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Although the film was highly regarded then and now, the film was not a success at the box office because of its creative and artistic interpretation while critics were calling it a true masterpiece.
"Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" was the first film with a soundtrack of music and sound effects utilizing Fox's Movietone souund-on-film system and for its creative and artistic style, the use of groundbreaking cinematography during that time would influence many filmmakers and even has been referred to as the "Citizen Kane" of American silent cinema.
Despite the original negative for the film being destroyed in 1937 due to a major nitrate fire (nearly 80-90% of Hollywood's silent films by Fox Film Corporation's created between 1910-1920's were destroyed) at Fox's storage facility in New Jersey. Fortunately, a 1936 print held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the NFTVA were still present (the UCLA print was later destroyed due to advance decomposition in 1992). In 1995, Kevin Brownlow and David Gill of Photoplay Productions prepared a new print for the 1995 London Film Festival using the NFTVA print and in 2002, restoration talks for the film began. A fifth generation 1940 nitrate negative print was found in 2002 and then a 1927 print loaned by the Narodni Filmovy Archv in Prague featured a Czech version of footage not featured in the American release.
Eureka! via "The Masters of Cinema" has released "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" featuring both Movietone and Czech films on the Blu-ray release and with a choice of the monaural Movietone score and the stereo Olympic Chamber Orchestra score.
VIDEO:
"Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans" were shot with two cameras thus one has the aspect ration of 1:20:1 and the other with 1:37:1 According to Eureka!, the Blu-ray version of the films were encoded with both HD masters in 1080p AVC format on BD50. Eureka! decided against HD-DVNR, MTI or other forms of digital restoration or grain removal after tests revealed noticeable disruptions of the film's "Sfumato" qualities in many scenes. And thus, their hands off approach was their respect to the filmmaker and the patina of the image. The level of damage still present is exactly what you would see if the film was projected via 35mm theatrically.
Having not seen any previously DVD or VHS release of "Sunrise: A song of Two Humans", I can tell you that from what I saw... despite it having some scratches and dust, I was very impressed with the picture quality of the film on Blu-ray considering the film is over 80-years-old. According to my associates who have compared this film to the previous standard definition releases from Fox and Eureka!, this HD release of the film is absolutely fantastic!
I will say that the Czech version is a bit much more difficult to watch because it's missing frames and thus I prefer the Movietone version.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
Eureka! via "The Masters of Cinema" has released "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" featuring both Movietone and Czech films on the Blu-ray release and with a choice of the monaural Movietone score and the stereo Olympic Chamber Orchestra score by Timothy Brock. According to Eureka!, the absence of any surviving soundtrack for the Czech version led Fox to roughly approximate the Movietone score to it in 2008.
Original English intertitles on the Movietone version are featured and optional English subtitles on the silent Czech version.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
"Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans The Masters of Cinema Series #1" comes with the following special features:
* Audio Commentary Full-length audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version. Interesting to hear Bailey's comments, especially on the camerawork and effects used.
* Outtakes (9:57) Outtakes with optional John Bailey commentary. It's amazing that a film of this age has any outtakes. So, I was surprised to see this on the Blu-ray.
* Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film (40:55) Janet Bergstrom's updated 40-minute documentary about the lost Murnau film "4 Devils" featuring still pictures, art and details of scenes from the film.
* Original Theatrical Trailer (1:50) The original silent theatrical trailer.
* Original `photoplay' script The original "photoplay" script by Carl Mayer with Murnau's handwritten annotations (150 pages in pdf format). You can download these from the Masters of Cinema website as well.
* 20-Page booklet Illustrated booklet with film restoration and DVD/Blu-ray transfer information, along with a comparison between the two versions.
JUDGMENT CALL:
I have wanted to see "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" for such a long time. I've waited with heavy anticipation for UK-based entertainment company Eureka! to release this film via Blu-ray courtesy of their Masters of Cinema series and I am so grateful that they decided to release this film with no region encoding, so anyone from all over the world that has a Blu-ray player can enjoy this film.
After watching the film, I can't help but gush about how fantastic this film is. From the crowded streets in the city to the innovative camerawork and editing, I was simply amazed of what was accomplished back then. The film is literally gripping as the film has its share of action and drama and literally from beginning to end, "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" manages to captivate you courtesy of George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor.
O'Brien plays the man from the country with such a great presence as Gaynor transforms from this sad housewife to this vibrant woman, especially in one scene with the crowd ask the two to dance. But the camera work and artistic presentation was just phenomenal. The whole city sequence created on the Fox back lot with hundreds of extras and cars from that era in a traffic jam to the man and wife attending a fair. I don't know how much was spent on this film but everything on camera just worked. I was overwhelmed by how magnificent this film was but then watching the special features that came on the Blu-ray release, especially the slight differences from the Movietone and Czech version was quite interesting to see, especially to know that we will never be known of what was the final cut that Murnau had wanted due to the original print being destroyed in the Fox Warehouse and many other prints out there suffering from major deterioration.
But what we are able to see on this Blu-ray release, again...I'm grateful for Eureka! for releasing this Blu-ray via non-region but most importantly, choosing a silent film for its first major release on Blu-ray. If anything, I am more inclined to purchase the Murnau DVD box sets out right now and look forward to watching the Master of Cinema's next Murnau Blu-ray release "City Girl".
Overall, "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" is simply magnificent and this Blu-ray release is just outstanding! If I had to give this film a rating, then definitely an... A+!
A beautiful, mesmerizing visual poem. Get it, and help bring this kind of filmmaking back to life.
Buy Sunrise Blu-ray + DVD (1927) 3-Disc
This new 2009 reissue of Sunrise (for the first time anywhere in the world in 1080p HD on Blu-ray, in addition to a newly mastered 2 x DVD set) contains two versions of the film: the previously released Movietone version, and an alternate silent version of the film recently discovered in the Czech Republic, which is of a higher visual quality than any other known source. The Blu-ray edition includes both versions in 1080p HD. Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source. Supplements include:
1. Restored high-definition transfers of two different versions: the American Movietone version, and the silent Czech version Original English intertitles on the Movietone version, and optional English subtitles on the silent Czech version
2. Original Movietone score (mono) and alternate Olympic Chamber Orchestra score (stereo)
3. Full-length audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version
4. Outtakes with either John Bailey commentary or intertitles
5. Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film Janet Bergstrom's updated 40 minute documentary about the lost Murnau film
6. Original theatrical trailer
7. Original 'photoplay' script by Carl Mayer with Murnau's handwritten annotations (150 pages in pdf format)
8. 68 page illustrated booklet with numerous essays including a new reprint of a piece by Dudley Andrew
End of press release.
There is nothing special about the story behind this movie. A farmer (George O'Brien) is attracted by a vamp from the City (Margaret Livingston) who seduces him and has gradually had him selling his farm off piece by piece to provide presents for her. She finally suggests that he leave his failing farm altogether and return with her to the City. However, to complete the plan, he will need to drown his country wife(Janet Gaynor). A few days later, the farmer takes his wife for a trip to the city. As he rows his wife across the lake that is between their village and the trolley, he comes close to doing away with her. However, always a reluctant partner in this plan, he recoils in horror and rows the boat to the shore, his wife unharmed. The wife, having seen the murder in her husband's eyes, jumps onto the trolley to the city with her husband in hot pursuit. Once in the city, he reassures her that he would not harm her, and he begins to feel real remorse for his previous actions. They slip into a church and watch a wedding ceremony going on, and in doing so begin to reconnect to one another. By the end of the day, they've fallen in love again; the man remembering why it was he married his wife in the first place. However, when a storm breaks out on their way back across the lake, the wife falls out of the boat. The farmer goes for help and the entire village looks for her, hoping she has not been drowned in the storm. This rather simple story could easily have been transformed into a hackneyed melodrama. What makes Sunrise a great film, though, is the majesty and tenderness F.W. Murnau managed to give it without the benefit of audible conversation.
Particularly intriguing is the set of the unnamed "City". If the traffic patterns shown in this movie are indicative of traffic laws in the 1920's it's a wonder anybody made it to or from work alive. Early autos, horse-drawn carriages, and people all chaotically race through the streets without rhyme or reason. Also wondrous are the night shots of the Coney Island-style amusement park where the farmer and his wife go for some fun before returning home as well as the view of the trolley ride and and the glide following the farmer through the moonlit marsh. This truly was the "Best Artistic Picture" of the year.
A little known fact is that Sunrise was one of the first feature films to use sound-on-film techniques, in which Fox was a pioneer. There were fully synchronized sounds of automobiles, church bells, crowds, and other effects. Unfortunately, "The Jazz Singer" was released shortly after Sunrise, and Sunrise failed at the box office. Time, however, has had a different judgement. Today, "The Jazz Singer" is mainly remembered for ushering in the age of the talkie. Likewise, "Wings" which won the first Best Picture "Oscar", is largely remembered for its aerial stunts, for which it also won an engineering award. Sunrise, however, is still appreciated as a whole motion picture experience, not just a temporary technical triumph that has faded as other technical triumphs take its place.
Read Best Reviews of Sunrise Blu-ray + DVD (1927) 3-Disc
But upon a more thorough investigation, I found out that the imported Korean version is only the regular DVD Version not the Blu-ray. If I had purchased it, I would have been very, very displeased.
This is something that Amazon has been doing a lot of lately mismatching reviews one has to be careful.
my two cents.
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