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“Murnau’s silent masterpiece contains some of the most glorious visual set-pieces in the history of cinema.” – Chicago TribuneOften considered one of the greatest films ever made—it came in at #11 in the most recent edition of Sight & Sound‘s prestigious poll of film critics—SUNRISE is an enduring testament to the emotive power of cinema. Telling the simple, yet powerful, tale of a farmer (George O’Brien), bored with country life, who’s seduced by a city gal (Margaret Livingston) into killing his wife (Janet Gaynor), only for the married couple to rediscover their love for each other. Directed by German Expressionist master F.W. Murnau, then working in the United States, the film is bursting with grand emotion, given life by a roving camera that seems to fly through the air. SUNRISE won an Oscar for Unique and Artistic Picture at the very first Academy Awards (a kind of joint Best Picture prize it shared with Wings) and also nabbed a statue for its star Janet Gaynor (an award that was also for her work in two other films; things were more complicated back then). As Roger Ebert wrote in his appreciation of Murnau’s film, “silent films had a language of their own; they aimed for the emotions, not the mind, and the best of them wanted to be, not a story, but an experience.” With its great beauty and depth of feeling, SUNRISE is not just an experience, but potentially a life-changing one.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Arkadin Cinema & Bar, 5228 Gravois Ave, St Louis, MO 63116-2310, United States, Southhampton
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