Sunrise

BFI Film Classics

by Lucy Fischer

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is one of the most historically pivotal of all films. The first American film of the celebrated German director F.W. Murnau, Sunrise tells the story of a love triangle between characters named only as The Man, The Wife, and The Woman from the City.

Lucy Fischer's compelling study of the film shows how it mediates between German expressionism and American melodrama, the avantgarde and popular film, silent cinema and 'talkies'. A lavish and sumptuous production famous for its vast, specially-constructed sets, and one of the first feature films with a synchronized musical score and sound effects soundtrack, Sunrise was one of early Hollywood's most ambitious undertakings.

In her foreword to this new edition, Lucy Fischer considers the film as an abiding classic of world cinema.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

87 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 1998

About the author

Lucy Fischer is a Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies and directed the Film Studies Program at Pitt for three decades. Beyond teaching she has also had film curatorial experience at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh. Her interests in film studies are wide ranging and include international cinema of both the silent and sound era as well as narrative and experimental film.

Her particular fields include cultural and feminist studies, film theory, film aesthetics, women and film, film and literature, and the relationships between film, consciousness and desire. Aside from publishing 9 books, her articles have appeared in many journals, including: Screen, Film History, Sight and Sound, Camera Obscura, Wide Angle, Cinema Journal, Journal of Film and Video, Film Criticism, Women and Performance, Frauen und Film, and Film Quarterly.

Her essays have been anthologized 30 times in volumes of film history, criticism, and theory. She has lectured internationally in Israel, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Scotland, Great Britain, Portugal, and Australia and has taught abroad in Germany, Sweden, and on the Semester at Sea program of the University of Pittsburgh (which traveled around the world). She recently completed editing an issue of the Portuguese journal, Anglo-Saxonia, and her latest book, Cinema by Design: Art Nouveau, Modernism, and Film History.

Reviews

[°•.Melina°•. · Rating 5 out of 5]

یه فیلم کلاسیک بینظیر،
با تحلیل‌های کامل و دقیق این کتاب از نشر خوبِ "خوب".
با تشکر از پروژه‌ی کلاسِ "تاریخ سینمای جهان" که باعث شد از این به بعد معتاد این کار بشم🤝🏼
فیلم (Sunrise(1927 در نگاه اول یک مثلث عشقی و معمولیه ولی وقتی تحلیل هاشو میخونید میبینید هر حرکت دوربین و هر صحنه و هر پلان از فیلم، یه نشانه و فیلمیه که میشه کشف کرد و همین هم سینما رو شیرین میکنه☀️
.
.

[bahar afsari · Rating 3 out of 5]

اولین کتاب امسال با ترجمه خوب حسین‌عیدی‌زاده، درباره‌ی فیلمی که بسیار دوستش دارم

[Jeff Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a section in this book where it is proposed that Sunrise is one of those films that will simply get lost in the mist of time, and in many ways so it has turned out to be. Rightly heralded as one of the greatest films ever made, it does not have the cultural lasting power of one of Murnau’s other films (Nosferatu) and does not get the television coverage of other films from the era, which is a terrible shame.

Unfortunately, this is not the book to restore that reputation; unlike other BFI classics (and I am a massive fan of this series) this reads more like a summary of a thesis – lots of smaller subsections that give some insight, but don’t go deep enough for me. At 71 pages it is on the shorter side for a BFI book, and there are a lot of stills and images within.

Definitely worth a read if you like the film, but slightly below par for the series.

[mehran · Rating 3 out of 5]

مورنائو در اولین تجربه فیلمسازی هالیوود فیلمی بسیار انسانی می‌سازد تصویری اکسپرسیونیستی از سینمای آلمان که قبل تر ها مولف آن سمفونی ترس «نوسفراتو» بود

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is useful in giving readers some of the background on Murnau’s life and work, the 1920s social context of flappers and consumerism, and the German Expressionist tradition that pervades Sunrise even though the film was made in Hollywood. However, Fischer sometimes drifts off into academic theorizing too remote from the nitty-gritty of the film itself, quite the danger when these books in the BFI Film Classics series are already so short and only give us about 60 pages of text.

[Chris Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
If you are already deeply enamored by "Sunrise" and have a little previous background in film studies/criticism, you will find some thoughtful insights here. And certainly a deeper discussion of the film than you will find almost anywhere else. In this way, I think it served its purpose well.

But if dry academic writing is not your cup of tea, this book might not be for you, even if you love Sunrise. Maybe try a podcast such as Unspooled for a joyful discussion of the film and its place in history.

[Nancy Loe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great analysis of the best silent film ever made.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent discussions on an excellent film.

[David Sterritt]

Lucy Fischer’s monograph on “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” is a thoughtful and sympathetic analysis of Murnau’s great film. I find it too sympathetic in some respects, playing down the cliché and sentimentality that sometimes weigh the picture down, and a mystifying quotation from Astruc could have used a lot of clarification. But it’s always heartening to see a major artwork receive a smart and sensitive critique. Recommended for serious cinephiles.

[Estelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there is a better book about this beautiful film, then I don't know where.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bad overview, but a bit lacking in discussion of formal elements and a bit disorganized in its placement of its sections. Still, a decent brief, post-viewing read.