#75 Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans - Some women give the rest of us a bad name...

1927. dir. F. W. Murnau, starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.

Seen it before? No.

See Donnie Darko if you want to know when I'm going to write mine....

I understand that older movies didn't have the technology to create talking pictures. I understand that a lot of the actors in silent films didn't translate well (read - sound good) in "talkies." But this movie pinpointed something that rings true today as it did (probably) back in the late twenties.

A man (a farmer) is married to a woman and has a child with her. They live in the country in a place that city-folk frequent for vacation. There is a character called 'the woman from the city' who is having an affair with the farmer/man. She is SO wicked she tells him to kill his wife by taking her out on a boat, pushing her into the water and leaving her to drown. The intent, of course, is to get the wife out of the way so the two can sell the farm and move to the city...

I won't tell you what happens because you should see it for yourself (or at the very least read the synopsis on imdb.com).

Haven't we seen this story before? probably.
Watch it again? Sure
Own it? Nah

#75 Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans: Of no place and every place

1927. dir. F. W. Murnau, starring George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston.

Seen it before? No.

Here we go with another ridiculous silent movie. This won the Oscar for "Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production" which is not quite the same as the current "Best Picture" Oscar. Or maybe it is, I'm not sure...

The characters don't have names. The Man (George O'Brien) is married to The Woman (Janet Gaynor) but is having an affair with The Woman From The City (Margaret Livingston). She's bad news! She smokes cigarettes and bobs her hair. She tries to get The Man to kill The Woman, sell his farm, and move to the city. There's really not much here in the way of plot. What is interesting about this movie is the pioneering use of visual effects and set design.

This is worth seeing if you're interested in film history. Unlike some of the other films we've watched from this era (like Metropolis), the picture here looks pretty good. This despite the original negatives having been destroyed in a fire in 1937.

Position on the list: 188
Uh, I don't get it: The pig. Was that a real carnival game from the 1920's? Because it looks awesome.