Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Sunrise Blu-ray Movie Review

Family Affair.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 15, 2014

There’s a peculiar form of chauvinism (in the original meaning of that word) that often attends even the most rabid film fan when it comes to the subject of silents. Many film lovers tend to dismiss silents as some sort of monolithic (almost inchoate) entity that exists as an inseparable unit, a category that is at least at times dismissed for its perceived technical limitations and storytelling shortcomings. Anyone who might feel this way (and you certainly don’t need to admit it here) might want to take just an hour and a half or so out of their day to watch Sunrise, certainly one of the most astounding films in the entire annals of cinema, let alone the silent era. Is the story somewhat hackneyed? That I’ll give you, for the basic plot tells the hoary story of a man torn between his saintly wife and the ever notorious “other woman”. But in virtually every other way, Sunrise is nothing less than a minor (and maybe even a major) miracle. Luminously shot by the legendary Karl Struss and Charles Rosher, directed by the equally legendary F.W. Murnau, and expertly performed by Janet Gaynor, George O’Brien and Margaret Livingston, Sunrise is one of the most technically proficient films of all time, something made all the more astounding with the realization that it truly was made at the dawn of the sound age. Among Sunrise’s singular achievements are a glut of then very tricky effects shots (all done in camera), equally hard to achieve tracking shots, and an actual early soundtrack presented via Fox’s then revolutionary Movietone system (there’s no dialogue here, only a score and occasional sound effects). But perhaps just as important as any of these undeniably important accomplishments is the overall mood of the piece, a heady mix of the sacred and profane, of love and lust and all the emotions that tend to inflame human passions to their breaking point. There’s also a fascinating dialectic in the film between Murnau’s Expressionistic tendencies and a more realistic (albeit glamorously “Hollywood”) depiction of a marriage on the rocks.

The film bears literary origins, being based on Herman Sudermann’s A Visit to Tilsit, but the story is rather basic when all things are considered. A farmer identified only as The Man (George O’Brien) has been enjoying a dalliance with The Woman From the City (Margaret Livingston), despite having a pretty young Wife (Janet Gaynor) and a small child. The duplicitous other woman seductively calls The Man away from his home, urging him to sell his farm and murder his wife. The Man actually considers the plot (after a brief rage where he almost assaults the Woman), but ultimately decides to do the dirty deed, calling his Wife out to take a boat ride with him, where he plans to drown her.

Once on the boat, The Man finds he can’t go through with the act, though by that time The Wife realizes what had been afoot, and runs in terror from her husband once they get back to shore. She boards a nearby trolley, hoping to escape to the city, but The Man manages to jump aboard at the last minute, where he begs her not to be afraid of him. In the city, the two see a young couple getting married at a neighborhood church, and this seems to finally play enough on The Man’s conscience that he begs his wife for forgiveness. Things seem to be on the mend, with the two having their photograph snapped and enjoying the frivolities at a carnival, but things take a turn for the worse when as the two try to return home via their little boat, a horrible storm arises and the boat capsizes.

The rest of Sunrise plays out like an epic but intimate Morality Play from days of yore, with redemption and even salvation offered in the film’s closing moments. Again, the story here is undeniably hackneyed, especially to modern eyes, but that is not the chief allure of this now legendary film. Many of the film's sequences are cited even today as remarkable examples of special effects or more “mundane” technical proficiencies. Pay attention to such stunning moments as The Man’s trek through the woods to meet The Woman early in the film, or the long shot of the trolley venturing from the woods to the city, or the still debated shot of The Man and The Wife wending their way through traffic in the city (is it rear projection?).

As my colleague Dr. Svet Atanasov mentioned in his review of the Masters of Cinema release of several years ago, Sunrise’s history is fraught with problems. The original negative was destroyed in the famous Fox fire in the thirties, and no really definitive version of the film has ever been discovered. The more recently unearthed Czech version (also included on this Blu-ray) is sourced from not only different elements, but entirely different shots in many cases. What this means for modern day aficionados, though, is an absolutely fascinating release that offers two very different versions of the same basic film. Sunrise won two of its three Oscars for categories which are still handed out today, Best Actress (Gaynor) and Best Cinematography (Struss and Rosher). Its third Academy Award was for Best Unique and Artistic Production, a category that was only part of the very first awards ceremony, and was subsequently jettisoned in favor of Best Picture (interestingly, the cover of this Blu-ray lists a win for Best Picture, a designation AMPAS itself has accorded to Wings for that year). Somehow, it’s entirely fitting that this particular distinction should have been awarded to such a singular motion picture experience.

Sunrise Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots 1-10 are from the Movietone Version of Sunrise, while screenshots 11-19 are from the Czech Version of the film.

Sunrise is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.20:1 (Movietone Version) and 1.34:1 (Czech Version). This release unfortunately comes with no supplementary notes in an insert booklet, though I have to assume that this was sourced from the same 2008 HD telecine masters Fox prepared for both the 2003 restored Movietone version and the then recently discovered Czech version. I have the Masters of Cinema edition of this title, and for all intents and purposes, the image quality here is virtually identical, though personally I prefer the Masters of Cinema's contrast on the Movietone version to the Fox release (even a cursory glance at the screenshots on this review show that—to my eyes, anyway—the contrast on the Czech version is nominally superior to the Movietone version). (A completely non-scientific comparison of bitrates points toward basically the same on the Movietone version with a slightly higher rate on the Czech version when compared to the Masters of Cinema release.) Image depth and stability are excellent in both versions of the film on this release, though persnickety videophiles should be aware that not all damage was (or probably could be) totally ameliorated. The Movietone version has somewhat less obvious scratching and the like, but overall I'd say the Czech version is marginally more precise looking. As with the Masters of Cinema release (which was after all prepared from Fox masters), there are no signs of egregious digital tampering with the image, whether that be overt grain manipulation/removal or sharpening.

Sunrise Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Fox's Sunrise release parts ways from the Masters of Cinema release by offering the original Movietone score in DTS- HD Master Audio Mono and the more newly commissioned Olympic Chamber Orchestra score offered (rather mind bogglingly, in my not so humble opinion) in Dolby Digital 2.0. The original Movietone score has inherent limitations, but sounds remarkably full bodied, given reasonable expectations. The newer score is much different feel, and music lovers should certainly check it out for the varying moods it conveys, but why Fox chose a lossy format here is beyond my personal ken.

Sunrise Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most, but not quite all, of the supplements that made the Masters of Cinema release of Sunrise so excellent have matriculated over to this stateside release.

• Commentary by ASC Cinematographer John Bailey. This is an absolutely first rate commentary, one which deals with a host of biographical, technical and anecdotal issues in an extremely informative and captivating way.


• Outtakes with Commentary by Cinematographer John Bailey (480i; 10:01)


• Outtakes with Text Cards (480i; 9:20)


• Original Scenario by Carl Mayer with Annotations by F.W. Murnau (1080p) is a series of photographs of the scenario, which can be set to Auto Advance (not recommended, since each screen changes every five seconds) or Manual Advance.


• Sunrise Screenplay (1080p) is much the same as the Scenario, with both Auto Advance and Manual Advance options.


• Restoration Notes (1080p) is another set of text pages with some fascinating historical information on Sunrise and the restoration. Again there's the option to either Auto Advance or Manual Advance through the pages.


• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1:51)


• Movietone Version (1080p; 1:34:23) and European Silent Version (1080p; 1:18:46). Note: What I initially thought was an authoring error is in actuality simply a clunky Menu system. The only way to switch between the versions is to go to the Setup options in the Menu, rather than the Play option. When you first load the disc, the Play option gives you both versions, but after you've selected one, the Play menu simply defaults to that version, even if you stop the disc and restart it.

Sunrise Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's absolutely no question that Sunrise belongs in every serious film collector's library. The good news here is that there are actually two very respectable releases available. The Masters of Cinema release is region free and contains a great booklet and a longish featurette on Murnau's 4 Devils which this release omits. That said, this has virtually everything the Masters of Cinema release does and is certainly priced well enough, though the lossy audio on the newer score may be a deal breaker for audiophiles at least, if not for the general public. Normally I'd give a release like this an unqualified Highly recommended, but considering the competition given by the Masters of Cinema release, I'm slightly downgrading this to Recommended.