Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.