--- title: "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans" year: 1927 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/sunrise-a-song-of-two-humans" fi1m_score: 88 critics_score: 84 critics_reviews: 14 published: "2026-09-16T11:25:58.383287+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T11:26:17.833732+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Directed by F. W. Murnau · 1h 34m · MPA NR · Drama, Romance **Fi1m score: 88** · Critics 84 from 14 reviews *In a sentence:* The husband gets a crisis; the wife has to live with him > F. W. Murnau’s silent marriage drama makes a simple story painfully intimate through mobile camerawork and delicate acting. The women deserve more room beyond the husband’s troubles, but the performances make this a warm recommendation. ## Synopsis In a rural community, The Man (Anses), played by George O’Brien, and The Wife (Indre), played by Janet Gaynor, face a crisis in their marriage. The Woman from the City, played by Margaret Livingston, brings urban temptation into their lives. The husband is pulled away from home, while his wife faces the prospect of losing the life they share. His desires put the marriage at risk, and the contrast between country and city shapes the choices before him. Their conflict unfolds through looks, gestures and movement in a silent drama. ## Review *Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans* is a marriage drama in which a simple story receives an extraordinary amount of care. F. W. Murnau asks us to take desire, shame and attachment seriously, even when the characters have labels as broad as The Man and The Wife. We recommend it warmly, without requiring any interest in silent-film history. Its appeal is immediate, though Carl Mayer’s screenplay sometimes makes the women too convenient to the husband’s struggle. George O’Brien gives the husband’s divided feelings an uncomfortable physical weight. He can seem burdened by his own body, which keeps the performance from becoming merely an illustration of temptation. Janet Gaynor makes the wife’s vulnerability harder to dismiss than the story’s broad outline might suggest. We were moved by the hurt in her face, because she plays it quietly while the husband makes such heavy work of his feelings. Margaret Livingston has a more restricted task as The Woman from the City, and the restriction belongs to the writing. Charles Rosher and Karl Struss give the photography enough movement to prevent those broad character types from stiffening into poses. The tracking shots let a feeling develop as the camera travels, without waiting for a new scene to announce it. Double exposures put separate images together without pretending that we are looking at an ordinary, solid place. We can see the trick and still respond to it. The camerawork stays close to the characters’ agitation and longing, so its mobility seldom feels like a demonstration. The sets are just as frank about being made for the camera. The village is relatively plausible, while the city invites us to notice its manipulated space and perspective. That difference works: the town needs to look like somewhere that could occupy a restless person’s imagination. The lighting gives these conspicuously arranged surroundings depth and helps the actors belong within them. There are passages where the sheer amount of visual invention risks drawing attention away from the people, but the faces keep bringing us back. Harold D. Schuster’s editing has the awkward job of holding together a film that permits large changes in tone. It gives the gentler passages room and does not make every shift feel like a fresh start. The musical accompaniment, with Hugo Riesenfeld among those credited, helps sustain that continuity without making the pictures seem dependent on it. For all the freedom of the camera, the rhythm remains easy to follow. This is elaborate filmmaking that does not require us to admire its workings before feeling anything. The difficulty is the unequal attention paid to the three central figures. George O’Brien gets a moral struggle; Janet Gaynor and Margaret Livingston are asked to represent too much of what draws him in opposite directions. We would have liked more room for the women’s wants beyond what they mean to him. As romantic melodrama, it depends on broad contrasts, and the performances make those contrasts persuasive more often than the writing does. At 94 minutes, the film asks for less patience than its reputation as silent cinema might suggest. There is no need to approach it as a lesson in how films used to be made. Give it a quiet evening and enough attention to watch the faces. *Fi1m score 88, published 16 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics respond warmly to Sunrise, with praise concentrated on Murnau’s visual storytelling and the emotional force he draws from a simple marital fable. The reviews repeatedly single out fluid camera movements, double exposures, expressive lighting and the contrast between village and city settings. These techniques make the images dreamlike without distancing most critics from the couple’s troubles. Several also praise the delicate performances, while music and synchronised effects receive attention for supporting the drama. The spread is wide, but the disagreement is concentrated in one review rather than shared reservations among the majority. The New Yorker finds the artistic ambition overbearing, the sets unremarkable and the acting unconvincing, sometimes grotesque. Where that review sees intellectual strain at the expense of entertainment, most critics find feeling and inventiveness. The story’s simplicity is widely acknowledged, but generally treated as something the filmmaking makes moving rather than a serious weakness. ### Reviews we read (14) - **Radio Times** (5/5): The review calls the film pure cinema that is emotionally uplifting and sublimely refreshing. It singles out the wonder of its imagery, visual storytelling, perspective design and stunning photography. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-1zcwub/sunrise/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (95/100, inferred): The critic praises Murnau's groundbreaking visual style and camera freedom in this silent masterpiece, highlighting its dreamlike quality and emotional depth despite a simple fable-like story. The innovative techniques and haunting imagery elevate it beyond melodrama into a profound cinematic experience. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-sunrise-1928) - **Evening Standard**, Antonia Quirke (90/100, inferred): The critic calls the film electric and overwhelmingly passionate and sexual, describing it as an unforgettable classic tale of rural lovers and urban loss told in a fluid, rhapsodic style with stylised expressionistic sets. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/a-new-morning-7437706.html) - **Film Comment**, Robin Wood (90/100, inferred): The critic presents Sunrise as a profound affirmation of the redemptive power of heterosexual marriage and human wholeness, achieved through intense personal and mythic vision despite the film's stylized Expressionist elements. He singles out the emotional intensity of the couple's reconciliation and the triumphant final sunrise image for particular praise. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/murnaus-midnight-and-sunrise/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Bill Desowitz (90/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the film as potentially the greatest ever made, praising its innovative visual pyrotechnics, erotic sequences, and synchronized music and effects that demonstrate cinema's future potential. Its influence on later filmmakers and fresh depiction of human frailty are highlighted despite initial commercial failure. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jan-11-ca-7047-story.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Bill Weber (90/100, inferred): Murnau’s Hollywood masterpiece is presented in close-to-ideal context and the best possible digital quality. The critic singles out the film’s visual inventiveness, dreamlike images, and commitment to varied tones in its mythic story of marital crisis and reconciliation. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/sunrise/) - **The Guardian**, Jonathan Rosenbaum (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Sunrise a 1927 masterpiece and one of the films that introduce viewers to cinema as art. He singles out its synthesis of painting, music and literature into visual music, along with innovative camera work and lighting that render an elemental story of love and reconciliation. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/jan/31/1) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's technical innovations, remarkable evocation of moods and passions, delicate performances and imaginative cinematography, calling it a dreamlike symphony that is imaginative and surprisingly moving for a silent art movie. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/sunrise-song-two-humans-review/) - **The New York Times** (85/100, inferred): The piece lauds the film's precise and expressive shots and camera movements that convey mythic storytelling, noting its influence on other directors and its place in film history as a succès d'estime with pioneering sound elements. It highlights the contrast between realistic village and expressionistic city sets. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/movies/homevideo/09dvds.html) - **Time Out**, DMacp (80/100, inferred): The review praises the film's emotional poignancy and its ability to elevate a simple fable into something dynamic and intense. It singles out the dreamlike realism and superimpositions in the city sequences as examples of unequalled visual beauty. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/sunrise) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (80/100, inferred): The review calls it a distinguished artistic contribution in the German school manner, with remarkable resourcefulness of effects, convincing acting, and dramatic symbolism of marital complexities that realizes the director's promise. The incidental music blends smoothly to support the ambitious effort. [Read](https://variety.com/1926/film/reviews/sunrise-a-song-of-two-humans-1200409836/) - **The New Yorker**, Oliver Claxton (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film heavily Teutonic and overly intellectual, resulting in mental indigestion with unextraordinary sets and unconvincing acting that borders on the grotesque. The earnest artistic effort is ultimately deemed a commercial misstep that prioritizes Art over entertainment. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1927/10/01/saluto-the-shadows-of-sunrise-the-student-prince-does-his-duty) - **Collider**, Rob Vaux (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Sunrise one of the greatest films of the silent era, a romantic melodrama whose simple story is elevated by Murnau's artistry into something profoundly touching. He singles out the sparkling, dream-like cinematography for particular praise as the film's standout achievement. [Read](https://collider.com/sunrise-blu-ray-review/) - **Eye for Film**, Anton Bitel (90/100, inferred): The critic praises Murnau's film as a beautifully constructed piece that employs sophisticated cinematographic artifice to tell a simple story of love, guilt, and redemption. They single out its harmonious blend of German expressionism and Hollywood romanticism, along with its fluid tracking shots, double exposures, and thematic depth. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/sunrise-film-review-by-anton-bitel) ## Details - **Director:** F. W. Murnau - **Director:** F. W. Murnau - **Screenplay:** Carl Mayer - **Cinematography:** Charles Rosher, Karl Struss - **Editor:** Harold D. Schuster - **Music:** Hugo Riesenfeld, R. H. Bassett, Carli Elinor, Ernö Rapée, Willy Schmidt-Gentner - **Producer:** William Fox - **Cast:** George O'Brien as The Man (Anses); Janet Gaynor as The Wife (Indre); Margaret Livingston as The Woman from the City; Bodil Rosing as The Maid; J. Farrell MacDonald as The Photographer; Ralph Sipperly as The Barber; Jane Winton as The Manicure Girl; Arthur Housman as The Obtrusive Gentleman - **Runtime:** 1h 34m - **Certificate (MPA):** NR - **Release (the US):** 4 November 1927 - **Genres:** Drama, Romance - **Box office:** $2 million ## Where to watch in the US - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Tubi: free, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $4.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AU, BE, CA, EC, GB, MX, NZ, PA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1929: Best Actress (won); Best Cinematography (won) ## If you liked this - *City Lights* (1931), Fi1m 89: For silent acting that makes embarrassment, kindness and longing immediately legible. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/city-lights.md) - *L'Atalante* (1934): Another young marriage, told through faces, physical proximity and strange, persuasive images. - *Brief Encounter* (1945), Fi1m 90: Desire meets marital duty, with less visual freedom and equally painful restraint. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/brief-encounter.md) - *In the Mood for Love* (2000), Fi1m 91: Marital loneliness expressed through colour, repetition and people standing almost close enough. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/in-the-mood-for-love.md) - *Silent Light* (2007): Another rural marriage tested by desire, observed with patience and difficult sympathy. --- © Fi1m Ltd. 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