Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

Wednesday, January 18 at 7:30 PM — The Auditorium at NEIU — 3701 W Bryn Mawr Ave
Tickets: $10 at the door

SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS
Directed by F.W Murnau • 1927
“This song of The Man and his Wife is of no place and every place. You might hear it anywhere at any time. For wherever the sun rises and sets, in the city’s turmoil or under the open sky on the farm, life is much the same: sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet.” This prologue appears at the start of Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans and sets the stage for the strange and wonderful film that follows. Sunrise is simultaneously a culminating work of silent melodrama, an experiment in cinematic Esperanto, a universalist fable that oscillates between the poetic and the pretentious, and a cacophonous ode to modern life. (It also boasts unfathomable digressions, including a pig getting tipsy on table wine.) Western hunk George O’Brien stars as The Man, a loutish romantic whose affair with The Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston) gives him the idea to murder his Wife (Janet Gaynor). Unable to carry out his heinous plan, the Man attempts to reconcile with his Wife, who is surprisingly obliging under the circumstances. German maestro F.W. Murnau was hired by William Fox with the proviso that he inject Art into Hollywood studio filmmaking, and he was given a freer hand than any red-blooded American ever would have enjoyed. The industry noticed: Sunrise won the first (and only) Academy Award for Best Unique and Artistic Production, and continues to influence Hollywood and avant-garde filmmakers alike. With its unconventional and imaginative soundtrack, Sunrise also suggested a more ethereal future for the talkies than Al Jolson minstrel numbers, while inaugurating the 1.19:1 Movietone aspect ratio. (KW)
95 min • Fox Film Corp • 35mm from Criterion Pictures, USA
Preceded by: “Glee Worms” (Ben Harrison, 1936) – 7 min – 35mm