Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
About Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
A woman from the city, on holiday by a lake, tells a married farmer to drown his wife, sell the farm, and come away with her. On the boat he cannot do it. He and his wife go into the city, are photographed, and dance. A storm sinks the boat on the way home. He thinks she has drowned. She has held on to a bundle of reeds. He finds her alive, and the city woman leaves.
Cast & crew
More about Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
F. W. Murnau directed it, his first American film. Carl Mayer wrote the script from Hermann Sudermann's The Excursion to Tilsit. William Fox produced it for Fox Film Corporation. George O'Brien plays the farmer. Janet Gaynor plays the wife. Margaret Livingston plays the woman from the city. Charles Rosher and Karl Struss photographed it. Hugo Riesenfeld wrote the score. Fox released it on 4 November 1927. It runs 95 minutes.
Themes
Look
Charles Rosher and Karl Struss photographed the marsh, the boat, and the city sets built for the fair.
Music
Hugo Riesenfeld wrote the synchronized score.
Preservation
The original negative was lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire. The Academy Film Archive preserved a print in 2004. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1989.
Notes
- Gaynor's Best Actress award also cited Seventh Heaven and Street Angel.
- Bodil Rosing plays the maid. J. Farrell MacDonald plays the photographer.
- The original negative burned in the 1937 Fox vault fire. A new negative was made from a surviving print.
- The Academy Film Archive preserved it in 2004.
Awards
- Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Picture (1929)
- Academy Award for Best Actress, Janet Gaynor (1929)
- Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Charles Rosher and Karl Struss (1929)
- National Film Registry (1989)
Scenes
- He stands in the boat with the reeds and cannot push her in.
- They walk into the city traffic and sit for a photograph.
- The storm turns the boat over, and she clings to the reeds.
Also available
- Internet Archive (AmanecerSunriseASongOfTwoHumans)
- Wikimedia Commons (Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans (1927).webm)
