Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans

1927 Directed by F.W. Murnau

"An artistic masterpiece and also a joy to watch."

A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.

George O’Brien Janet Gaynor Margaret Livingston Bodil Rosing J. Farrell MacDonald Ralph Sipperly Jane Winton Arthur Housman Eddie Boland Herman Bing Sidney Bracey Gino Corrado Vondell Darr Sally Eilers Gibson Gowland Thomas Jefferson Bob Kortman F.W. Murnau Barry Norton Robert Parrish Sally Phipps Harry Semels Phillips Smalley Leo White Clarence Wilson

Alternative Titles

Sunrise - A Song of Two Humans, Sunrise, 日出:两个人的爱情之歌, Amanecer, Sonnenaufgang, Изгрев: Песен за две човешки души, Solopgang, Päikesetõus, Auringonnousu, Auringonnousu: Laulu kahdesta ihmisestä, L'aurore, Virradat, Aurora, Wschód slonca, Soluppgång, Восход солнца, Свiтанок: Пiсня двох людей, 선라이즈, Схід сонця

drama romance

94 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Mike D'Angelo ★★★★½ 4

88/100
What a truly odd structure this film has. In theory, it should end at roughly the midpoint, following the scene in the church—everything is resolved, both narratively and emotionally, once the Man essentially renews his vows by proxy. Instead, the second half depicts one glorious night in the couple's happily ever after, followed by a climactic crisis that not only isn't directly related (except symbolically) to the Man's prior faithlessness, but concludes with the Woman being ironically saved by his careful preparations for same. It shouldn't work at all, and if I force myself to take a few steps back, it really doesn't, gestalt-wise. (Hence the missing half-star.) Hard to focus on the big picture, though, when the actual…
Review by Cassandra ★★★½ 3

Mood: sobbing while eating bread next to my husband who just tried to murder me five minutes ago to live with the City girl he's been cheating on me with
Review by Dragonknight ★★★★★ 12

Film #1 of Gustav's Recommendations
” 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.”
It may be 87 years old but F.W. Murnau’s spellbinding and delightful masterpiece possesses an unbelievable quality and a fine and modern artistic vision which proves that silent cinema doesn't just belong to the past but it may be the ultimate way of reflecting the deepest emotions of human beings, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is the definition of perfect artistic work,…
Review by Dirk Diggler ★★★★½ 7

This film is 90 years old, yet such a beautiful and powerful film, an extraordinary technical achievement, and for me another proof that time has no bearing on quality. The tracking shot of them walking down the street, actually in the middle of the road with cars all over, and the city setting turning into a country side landscape and then back again into the city was just so stunning and remarkable. Timeless.
Review by aleph beth null ★½ 4

watching this immediately after le bonheur sure was a trip. i’m convinced murnau thought of this as humanist but it comes across as resoundingly opposed—premeditated acts of domestic violence are easily forgiven and brushed over by people everywhere! wow. it’s… the circle of life?
i mean. the man buries his sobbing face in the woman’s lap and she reassures him with every maternal image possible and she gives and gives and gives of herself… i don’t know. i was sobbing by the midpoint reconciliation not in relief but in sheer terror for her safety. apologies, even desperately tearful ones, change nothing. the man actually CUTS ANOTHER PERSON in the coffee shop for flirting with his wife. he tried to choke…
Review by Quintin 📽 Philipson ★★★½

I was so excited to watch this movie but unfortunately I didn't love it.
The first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes were really intense and interesting; however, the middle section felt like a bunch of side storylines to fill up the run time that didn't add anything to the overall narrative.
Also fuck the lead of the film. Why are we supposed to root for him?
Greatest Films of All Time
Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★ 3

"Another distinguished specialist was F.W. Murnau....he made Sunrise in Hollywood, which then turned thumbs down on him in conformity with its antagonism to all those who ventured to test the realm of poetry and beauty when not leavened with questionable taste." - Josef von Sternberg
It's always a surprise revisiting this movie, because it's canonization seems all the more odd. It's a complete tone poem, totally surreal. I remember reading about this movie when I was about 9 or 10, totally obsessed with silent movies at the time but unable to obtain or even find a VHS copy of it because none had officially been released! It was 2002 when this movie finally arrived in a home media format, but…
Review by Sam Meltzer🏳️‍🌈 ★★★ 14

I’ve heard a few people talk about how because silent films are, well, silent, you can choose your own music to play over them. I tried this for a few scenes with this and.... maybe WAP wasn’t the best choice...
...Anyway, this movie is pretty good lol.
Review by 👽 Zara 👽 ★★★½ 3

margaret livingston be like i’m bored murder your wife
Review by Paul Elliott ★★★★★ 4

The recipient of the only Academy Award for Unique and Artistic Picture at the first Academy Awards, F. W. Murnau's Sunrise is a medley of subjective camera gestures juxtaposed with expressionistically constructed sets to forge some magnificent and timeless poetry. George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor dazzlingly portray agricultural labourers of low social status that reside in a little lakeside village with their child, and their performances skillfully provide tiers of nuances which the director apprehends.
Adapted from Hermann Sudermann’s short story The Excursion to Tilsit, it's a sentimental journey of wild and unpredictable changes which cinematographers Charles Rosher and Karl Struss accentuate through captivating split-screen and double-exposure effects which substantiates Sunrise as an apex of technique in a more rudimentary age, and with a complexness which contradicts the resources at the time and remains extraordinary even by contemporary criteria.
Review by Evan Eaton ★★★★½ 4

Vague hints of German Expressionism peppered over domestic drama, the tedium of marriage reconciled once faced with the prospect of loss. Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is a nocturnal fairground of frightful twists and turns, its towering set pieces and timeless visual technique dripping with effortless style. George O’Brien’s lurking presence practically resurrects the image of Nosferatu, Janet Gaynor’s hysterical fear furthering the scare-factor. More than ninety-three years old and still immeasurable in its ability to surprise, Sunrise is surely silent film at its most vivid and powerful. A rip-roaring, thundering classic, demons of the night slowly dissolving into the light of day.
Review by Jaime Rebanal ★★★★★ 6

As I sit here trying to write a proper opening to a review talking about F. W. Murnau's Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, but attempting to think of a phrase that would capture how I feel about such an extraordinary piece of work is already hard enough - for not only is it one of the most romantic of all films but it is also something that stands out of its own kind. A defining moment in the silent era of film, Sunrise is not only extraordinary in how genuine the emotions of its characters are, but also in a sense that it is something so ahead of its time and does not feel dated in the slightest -…

Recent reviews

Review by madsissads ★★★★½

ahead of its time, and absolutely gorgeous..
Review by Diego Rossi

That drunken pig sequence was a trip man.

Youtube.
Review by HelpMeImDedede ★★★★½

Funniest movie ever made
Review by Tsai_Hsiao_Sung ★★★★½

「F.W. 穆瑙。Janet Gaynor。普遍性。字卡的反覆重現與敘述變化、變形來介入敘事。特寫、剪接、疊影。月下相擁。情殺，激烈的情感衝突，背叛、謀殺妻子的道德掙扎。對於災厄事先預警的狗。鐘聲，男主角異常的神態與肢體動作、痛苦的妻子。婚禮場景的對照。阻礙交通的擁吻跟隨鏡頭。1920 年代的都會樣貌。中段愛情劇。尾段風暴，毀滅性災難的呈現。蘆葦的對應效果。日出與擁吻。」──2021.03.08
Review by WilysChefs ★★★★

This was one of the AFI entries I was treating as “homework”. I embarked on this journey to have all 100 in my have watched list, but to my surprise I found it affecting and compelling. I’ve got no problem with this being on the list.
Review by thedefkid ★★★★½

Sunrise isn't the best silent film I've seen – that honor goes to Buster Keaton's The Cameraman – but it might be the best silent drama I've seen. The only other contender for me might be Battleship Potemkin, Sergei Eisenstein's Russian classic. But my affection for that is mostly formal: appreciation of technique, structure, and its role in cinematic history. As far as story? While I remember liking it, none of the details have remained with me all these years later.
On the other hand, Sunrise is one where the story has impressed me just as much as how visually stunning it is. Other reviews have called the story here simple, and in one way I suppose that's true –…
Review by Emily ★★★½

He sure brought a lot of money with him considering the original plan was to drown his wife in the lake 😂
Review by J ★★★★★

Happy end <33
Review by Luis A. Mendez ★★★★½

Luis’ Essential Cinema Selections (The 1920s; Films #201 To #350)
Film #307: Sunrise
Why Is It Essential?: A key and highly praised film from the pioneering German director F.W. Murnau. Its also the winner of the only Oscar for Best Artistic Film, and one of the films cited as one to watch before you die.
My Review: Perhaps my all-time favorite fully silent movie, this is an absolute classic that I adore and love. Its probably my favorite Murnau film period.
Final Grade: A+
More On The List As A Whole:
letterboxd.com/authorlmendez/list/luis-essential-cinema-selections-the-start/
Review by Amy Hensarling ★★★★½

Sunrise positively floored me at the start & has an outstanding first half. Maybe the best I’ve ever seen. Honestly thought for the initial 45 minutes that not only was this a supremely obvious 5 star film, but it deserved a spot in my Top 20 all time list; unfortunately, the second half does not sustain its incredible beginning, but I can’t give this any less than 4.5. Even my strongest complaint is minor in the grand scheme. Sunrise is a memorable, exquisite triumph. Emotionally engaging, magnificently shot, tender, and—as I understand from Ebert’s review—revolutionary.
There are a handful of visuals I won’t ever forget, & this definitely has the most effective use of title cards. I wish more people raved about this because it’s a bonafide must-see. Would have been shocked if D’Angelo didn’t love it or it hadn’t been on Ebert’s Great Movies list ... but, of course—as usual—they know what’s good.
Review by jcar195 ★★★½

Fellas you ever feel bored in your marriage so you plot to kill your wife, but then it turns out you two just need a night on the town without the baby to keep things fresh?
Review by Alex Robertson ★★★★★

Ugh 10 stars