Event

Sunrise - New 35mm print!

(F.W. Murnau, USA, 1928, 35mm, 95 min) The great German director F.W. Murnau handpicked Janet Gaynor to star in his first Hollywood feature, a masterpiece of silent cinema widely considered among the greatest films ever made. Sunrise tells an elemental tale with virtuosic visual invention. Murnau, known especially for his use of moving camera shots to explore three-dimensional space, arrived in Hollywood as sound films were coming into vogue. Shot silent, Murnau, along with renowned cameramen Karl Struss and Charles Rosher, merged the psychological realism of the domestic drama with a lyrical depiction of both the quiet country village and the bustling city—connected by the protagonists' celebrated streetcar journey through the different visual landscapes. The relatively simple story revolves around a hard-working farmer (George O'Brien) torn between devotion to his virtuous wife (Gaynor) and desire for a seductive vamp from the city (Margaret Livingston). Gaynor's work here for Murnau, combined with her subsequent performances in Frank Borzage's 7th Heaven and Street Angel, famously earned her the first Academy Award for Best Actress in 1928.

"F.W. Murnau's Sunrise conquered time and gravity with a freedom that was startling to its first audiences. To see it today is to be astonished by the boldness of its visual experimentation." —Chicago Sun-Times

"Lori Goldston uses her cello the way a king uses his army: to build empires, and then rule over them." —The Stranger