SILENT FILM REVIEWS
Chaplin's Goliath/ Metropolis/ Sunrise
First appeared in www.filmsinreview.com
Chaplin's Goliath/ Metropolis/ Sunrise
First appeared in www.filmsinreview.com
CHAPLIN'S GOLIATH
reviewed by Glenn Andreiev
Directed and Written by Kevin MacDonald 1996. Kino Video
Eric Campbell was the first movie tough guy. We all have seen him in Charlie Chaplin shorts, as an
enormous, mean-looking street brute resembling Popeye's Bluto, his arms whirling about like some
homicidal windmill, clobbering his opponent, who was usually the small framed Chaplin. Filmdom
had it's first mega-star in Chaplin, and his was one of the most easily recognizable faces worldwide in
the 20th century. Up until this fascinating documentary, made for Scottish television in 1996, very little
was known about one of Chaplin's best remembered on-screen collaborators.
Campbell is revered as a favorite son in his hometown of Dunoon, Scotland, where he was born in
1879. Trained as a scientist, Campbell, large framed all his life, turned to music hall singing and
comedy instead. (This documentary has incredible archival footage of pre-World War I music hall
comedy acts.) He became part of Fred Karno's comedy troup, where he met young Charles Chaplin
and Stan Laurel.
Campbell came to America in 1913, and later sent for his wife and daughter to come over from
England when he was called by Chaplin to work in Hollywood. His kindly, pudgy face was made over
with imposing whiskers and almost zombie-like eye shadow. Campbell became the perfect adversary
for the little tramp. If dressed "up-scale", Campbell became the ultimate money-bag heartless tyrant.
CHAPLIN'S GOLIATH borrows visual material from Kevin Brownlow's UNKNOWN CHAPLIN, a fantastic
documentary showing rare Chaplin out-takes and rehearsals. If you see both documentaries, you'll
see out-takes of another Chaplin collaborator, Henry Bergman, trying his hand at being a bullying waiter
in THE IMMIGRANT. Bergman was too old and slow for the part. The next take shows Eric Campbell
essaying the same material. Looking like the waiter from Hell, he twists plug nickels in his teeth and
tosses out deadbeat customers like garbage.
The documentary dwells mostly on Campbell as a timeless comic genius. Very little is spent on his
upsetting private life (a Chaplin historian does read part of Campbell's divorce petition.) Campbell, who
was one of Chaplin's best friends, died in a drunk driving accident in late 1917. The film-makers point
out that at the end of THE ADVENTURER, the last film Campbell and Chaplin made together, Chaplin's
little tramp traps Campbell's bullying thug in a door and kisses him goodbye!
reviewed by Glenn Andreiev
Directed and Written by Kevin MacDonald 1996. Kino Video
Eric Campbell was the first movie tough guy. We all have seen him in Charlie Chaplin shorts, as an
enormous, mean-looking street brute resembling Popeye's Bluto, his arms whirling about like some
homicidal windmill, clobbering his opponent, who was usually the small framed Chaplin. Filmdom
had it's first mega-star in Chaplin, and his was one of the most easily recognizable faces worldwide in
the 20th century. Up until this fascinating documentary, made for Scottish television in 1996, very little
was known about one of Chaplin's best remembered on-screen collaborators.
Campbell is revered as a favorite son in his hometown of Dunoon, Scotland, where he was born in
1879. Trained as a scientist, Campbell, large framed all his life, turned to music hall singing and
comedy instead. (This documentary has incredible archival footage of pre-World War I music hall
comedy acts.) He became part of Fred Karno's comedy troup, where he met young Charles Chaplin
and Stan Laurel.
Campbell came to America in 1913, and later sent for his wife and daughter to come over from
England when he was called by Chaplin to work in Hollywood. His kindly, pudgy face was made over
with imposing whiskers and almost zombie-like eye shadow. Campbell became the perfect adversary
for the little tramp. If dressed "up-scale", Campbell became the ultimate money-bag heartless tyrant.
CHAPLIN'S GOLIATH borrows visual material from Kevin Brownlow's UNKNOWN CHAPLIN, a fantastic
documentary showing rare Chaplin out-takes and rehearsals. If you see both documentaries, you'll
see out-takes of another Chaplin collaborator, Henry Bergman, trying his hand at being a bullying waiter
in THE IMMIGRANT. Bergman was too old and slow for the part. The next take shows Eric Campbell
essaying the same material. Looking like the waiter from Hell, he twists plug nickels in his teeth and
tosses out deadbeat customers like garbage.
The documentary dwells mostly on Campbell as a timeless comic genius. Very little is spent on his
upsetting private life (a Chaplin historian does read part of Campbell's divorce petition.) Campbell, who
was one of Chaplin's best friends, died in a drunk driving accident in late 1917. The film-makers point
out that at the end of THE ADVENTURER, the last film Campbell and Chaplin made together, Chaplin's
little tramp traps Campbell's bullying thug in a door and kisses him goodbye!
METROPOLIS
reviewed by Glenn Andreiev
Credits:
Produced by Erich Pommer Directed by Fritz Lang Written by Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang
Cast:
Gustav Frolich, Brigette Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klien Rogge.
1926- Ufa Reissued by Kino International
Okay, you saw METROPOLIS? You have it on video? Forget that, and catch the new, cleaned up
version of METROPOLIS now offered by Kino International. It's like polishing a rusted, tarnished statue.
The original beauty just leaps out at you.
The German based company, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung took it upon themselves to restore,
the best they could, Fritz Lang's monumental 1926 science fiction silent epic. Their end result is
simply incredible. It played this summer to sell out crowds in many art-house movie theatres. Working
with seven existing nitrate copies and negatives, they digitally restored 1257 different scenes. The new
METROPOLIS is what film fans over the years could only daydream about. METROPOLIS originally ran
150 minutes upon its January 1927 release. It was the prize film of Germany's UFA studio, which was,
during the silent era, the MGM of all Europe! A few weeks after it's release, cuts were ordered. More
cuts were made for versions imported to the United States.
Most copies of METROPOLIS up to now (usually dupe 16mm prints or okay to poor VHS copies) ran
about 100 minutes. This new 120-minute version is the closest we'll ever see to Fritz Lang's original
vision. 75 years of neglect, and the UFA achives being bombed during World War II, have caused a
half hour of the 150 minute film to become just a memory. This new version has title cards explaining
the lost scenes. (The Murnau Company was working with Lang's original screenplay)
METROPOLIS, as compared to modern sci-fi like MINORITY REPORT and BLADERUNNER, has an
incredibly sappy storyline (but both before- mentioned films owe much to Lang's original) Freder
Frederson (Gustav Frolich) is the highly sensitive son of cold, slightly evil Jon Frederson (Alfred Abel),
the ruler of Metropolis, a grand futuristic city where the workers toil in shafts far below. Jon Frederson
orders the local mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klien Rogge, a wonderful actor Lang cast as a villain
four other times!) to build a robot in the likeness of Maria (Brigette Helm). Frederson believes Maria
"preaches" the workers to a revolution. One thing leads to another and much of the city is destroyed.
In 1924, Fritz Lang was one of the leading directors in the German film industry, an industry known for
it's boundless artistry. His wild and fast crime drama DR. MABUSE (1923) and his dungeons and
dragon's grand epic SIEGFRIED (1924) made him the German master of the uber-production. Late in
1924, Lang took a trip to America. To Lang, Manhattan was "...full of turning twisting, circular light, like a
paean to human happiness." (Many sources indicate Lang and his screenwriting partner and wife,
Thea von Harbou, were toiling at a METROPOLIS script long before his America trip.) Lang's first-time
view of the Manhattan skyline was not the birth of METROPOLIS, as many film history books claim. It
was more like a re-enforcement.)
For the part of Maria, and her robotic counterpart, Lang cast the unknown Brigette Helm. Born Eva
Gisela Schnittenhelm in 1906, this awkward teen was an old fashioned girl trotted around by an
abrasive stage mother. Ms. Helm is the scene-stealer of this film. When the robot Maria wildly
gestures, screaming for bloodshed, and when she tries to wink, the packed theatre audience went
nuts! When the Robot Maria does an exotic go-go dance, all I can say, is "Bada-Bing Clubâ€| look out!"
Along with Brigette Helm and film veteran Albert Abel, Lang cast 750 actors, 26,000 male extras,
11,000 female extras, and 750 children. This was no problem, because unemployment in Germany
was so high, people didn't mind working under Lang's torturous rigors
The miniature photography of the Metropolis city went incredibly smooth, using many revolutionary
special effects. Plasterers building the body-cast mold for the Robot Maria had trouble because they
had to work with Brigette Helm's constantly growing 18-year-old body. The robot costume was tight
and painful, often cutting Ms. Helm. For the scene where Freder has to sink to his knees in front of
Maria, Lang insisted on numerous retakes, spending two days straight just filming that action. Lang
wanted to be sure Gustav Frolich, making his film debut as Freder, looked like he was in love with
Maria. By the time they were done, Frolich's knees were so worn, he could barely stand. For another
scene, Maria, escaping from the mad Rotwang, has to cling to a large bell-pull in a church. Upon Ms.
Helm jumping onto the prop bell-pull, the bell-pull swung and battered her on all the surrounding
walls. By the time Lang got the takes he was happy with, Ms. Helm was covered in cuts and bruises,
and shivering in tears.
The METROPLIS set had it's visitors, such as still unknown directors Sergei Eisenstein and Alfred
Hitchcock. (Note: In later years, if you wanted to piss off Lang, just mentioning Hitchcock would do the
trick; Lang felt the British director had stolen most of his ideas) Future film noir/sci-fi director Curt
Siodmack remembers visiting the set the day an angry mob burned the robot Maria at a stake. His
memory was that the fire ignited Ms. Helm's robot costume, causing her to faint.
310 days of shooting ended on October 30, 1926, at a cost of 5 million marks (or 1 million US Dollars
at the time) The Berlin premier took place on January 10, 1927, attended by diplomats, politicians, and
artists. A live orchestra with a score by Gottfried Huppertz accompanied the film. Huppertz's score is
beautifully reproduced note-for-note for this new version. Reviews were mixed ranging from angry to
ecstatic. H.G Wells said "a sillier film could not be made...". For METROPOLIS's American premier,
successful playwright Channing Pollack ordered cuts that shortened the film to a simpler 107
minutes. Different countries around the world had various shortened versions due to censorship or
running time dictates. Additionally, over the years, METROPOLIS shrunk and decomposed. Up until
now, we were viewing a carcass.
The best version was a BBC presentation of the film accompanied with an eerie electronic
music/sound effect score score. The worst was a runny public domain home video copy accompanied
by cocktail music. (And I am not too fond of a 1984 re-release that played with Reagan era pop music.
This version ran a sped-up 87 minutes!)
Lang would finish the 1920's with two more epic silents - the superb, eye-popping SPIES (1928),
which is the true grand-daddy of the James Bond films, and another sci-fi epic, THE WOMAN ON THE
MOON (1929). Before coming to Hollywood, he would make his debut talkie, the mega-creepy M
(1931), which in my opinion is still the greatest detective film of all time.
In America, Lang became a master of cinematic crime drama. These films include the doom-filled
Bonnie and Clyde saga YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937), an erotic thriller SCARLET STREET (1945), the
first good cop gone bad pot-boiler THE BIG HEAT (1953) and an occasional quirky western like
RANCHO NOTORIOUS (1952). In all that time, Lang could not bear to look at METROPOLIS again,
because it was so butchered.
If Fritz Lang was alive today (and I could picture him on a set, clashing with J-Lo, Vin Diesel and SAG
reps!) he surely would love what was done with his silent masterwork!
reviewed by Glenn Andreiev
Credits:
Produced by Erich Pommer Directed by Fritz Lang Written by Thea von Harbou and Fritz Lang
Cast:
Gustav Frolich, Brigette Helm, Alfred Abel, Rudolf Klien Rogge.
1926- Ufa Reissued by Kino International
Okay, you saw METROPOLIS? You have it on video? Forget that, and catch the new, cleaned up
version of METROPOLIS now offered by Kino International. It's like polishing a rusted, tarnished statue.
The original beauty just leaps out at you.
The German based company, Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung took it upon themselves to restore,
the best they could, Fritz Lang's monumental 1926 science fiction silent epic. Their end result is
simply incredible. It played this summer to sell out crowds in many art-house movie theatres. Working
with seven existing nitrate copies and negatives, they digitally restored 1257 different scenes. The new
METROPOLIS is what film fans over the years could only daydream about. METROPOLIS originally ran
150 minutes upon its January 1927 release. It was the prize film of Germany's UFA studio, which was,
during the silent era, the MGM of all Europe! A few weeks after it's release, cuts were ordered. More
cuts were made for versions imported to the United States.
Most copies of METROPOLIS up to now (usually dupe 16mm prints or okay to poor VHS copies) ran
about 100 minutes. This new 120-minute version is the closest we'll ever see to Fritz Lang's original
vision. 75 years of neglect, and the UFA achives being bombed during World War II, have caused a
half hour of the 150 minute film to become just a memory. This new version has title cards explaining
the lost scenes. (The Murnau Company was working with Lang's original screenplay)
METROPOLIS, as compared to modern sci-fi like MINORITY REPORT and BLADERUNNER, has an
incredibly sappy storyline (but both before- mentioned films owe much to Lang's original) Freder
Frederson (Gustav Frolich) is the highly sensitive son of cold, slightly evil Jon Frederson (Alfred Abel),
the ruler of Metropolis, a grand futuristic city where the workers toil in shafts far below. Jon Frederson
orders the local mad scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klien Rogge, a wonderful actor Lang cast as a villain
four other times!) to build a robot in the likeness of Maria (Brigette Helm). Frederson believes Maria
"preaches" the workers to a revolution. One thing leads to another and much of the city is destroyed.
In 1924, Fritz Lang was one of the leading directors in the German film industry, an industry known for
it's boundless artistry. His wild and fast crime drama DR. MABUSE (1923) and his dungeons and
dragon's grand epic SIEGFRIED (1924) made him the German master of the uber-production. Late in
1924, Lang took a trip to America. To Lang, Manhattan was "...full of turning twisting, circular light, like a
paean to human happiness." (Many sources indicate Lang and his screenwriting partner and wife,
Thea von Harbou, were toiling at a METROPOLIS script long before his America trip.) Lang's first-time
view of the Manhattan skyline was not the birth of METROPOLIS, as many film history books claim. It
was more like a re-enforcement.)
For the part of Maria, and her robotic counterpart, Lang cast the unknown Brigette Helm. Born Eva
Gisela Schnittenhelm in 1906, this awkward teen was an old fashioned girl trotted around by an
abrasive stage mother. Ms. Helm is the scene-stealer of this film. When the robot Maria wildly
gestures, screaming for bloodshed, and when she tries to wink, the packed theatre audience went
nuts! When the Robot Maria does an exotic go-go dance, all I can say, is "Bada-Bing Clubâ€| look out!"
Along with Brigette Helm and film veteran Albert Abel, Lang cast 750 actors, 26,000 male extras,
11,000 female extras, and 750 children. This was no problem, because unemployment in Germany
was so high, people didn't mind working under Lang's torturous rigors
The miniature photography of the Metropolis city went incredibly smooth, using many revolutionary
special effects. Plasterers building the body-cast mold for the Robot Maria had trouble because they
had to work with Brigette Helm's constantly growing 18-year-old body. The robot costume was tight
and painful, often cutting Ms. Helm. For the scene where Freder has to sink to his knees in front of
Maria, Lang insisted on numerous retakes, spending two days straight just filming that action. Lang
wanted to be sure Gustav Frolich, making his film debut as Freder, looked like he was in love with
Maria. By the time they were done, Frolich's knees were so worn, he could barely stand. For another
scene, Maria, escaping from the mad Rotwang, has to cling to a large bell-pull in a church. Upon Ms.
Helm jumping onto the prop bell-pull, the bell-pull swung and battered her on all the surrounding
walls. By the time Lang got the takes he was happy with, Ms. Helm was covered in cuts and bruises,
and shivering in tears.
The METROPLIS set had it's visitors, such as still unknown directors Sergei Eisenstein and Alfred
Hitchcock. (Note: In later years, if you wanted to piss off Lang, just mentioning Hitchcock would do the
trick; Lang felt the British director had stolen most of his ideas) Future film noir/sci-fi director Curt
Siodmack remembers visiting the set the day an angry mob burned the robot Maria at a stake. His
memory was that the fire ignited Ms. Helm's robot costume, causing her to faint.
310 days of shooting ended on October 30, 1926, at a cost of 5 million marks (or 1 million US Dollars
at the time) The Berlin premier took place on January 10, 1927, attended by diplomats, politicians, and
artists. A live orchestra with a score by Gottfried Huppertz accompanied the film. Huppertz's score is
beautifully reproduced note-for-note for this new version. Reviews were mixed ranging from angry to
ecstatic. H.G Wells said "a sillier film could not be made...". For METROPOLIS's American premier,
successful playwright Channing Pollack ordered cuts that shortened the film to a simpler 107
minutes. Different countries around the world had various shortened versions due to censorship or
running time dictates. Additionally, over the years, METROPOLIS shrunk and decomposed. Up until
now, we were viewing a carcass.
The best version was a BBC presentation of the film accompanied with an eerie electronic
music/sound effect score score. The worst was a runny public domain home video copy accompanied
by cocktail music. (And I am not too fond of a 1984 re-release that played with Reagan era pop music.
This version ran a sped-up 87 minutes!)
Lang would finish the 1920's with two more epic silents - the superb, eye-popping SPIES (1928),
which is the true grand-daddy of the James Bond films, and another sci-fi epic, THE WOMAN ON THE
MOON (1929). Before coming to Hollywood, he would make his debut talkie, the mega-creepy M
(1931), which in my opinion is still the greatest detective film of all time.
In America, Lang became a master of cinematic crime drama. These films include the doom-filled
Bonnie and Clyde saga YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (1937), an erotic thriller SCARLET STREET (1945), the
first good cop gone bad pot-boiler THE BIG HEAT (1953) and an occasional quirky western like
RANCHO NOTORIOUS (1952). In all that time, Lang could not bear to look at METROPOLIS again,
because it was so butchered.
If Fritz Lang was alive today (and I could picture him on a set, clashing with J-Lo, Vin Diesel and SAG
reps!) he surely would love what was done with his silent masterwork!
SUNRISE
reviewed by Glenn Andreiev
Written by Carl Meyer, Directed by F.W Murnau
With George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
1927 Fox Film Corporation 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Unless they uncover very early film footage of Lincoln's assassination, the big film restoration
event of 2003 will be the DVD release of F.W. Murnau's SUNRISE. It is interesting to note that
SUNRISE, probably the most exciting, and visually expressive of all silent films, was released in
September, 1927, a few weeks before THE JAZZ SINGER introduced the movie soundtrack.
During the mid 20's Hollywood producers noticed that artistic German films generated big
American bucks. One of the German directors they had their eye on was F.W. Murnau. His films,
like NOSFERATU, THE LAST LAUGH and FAUST, depended very little on explanatory title cards.
His use of facial expressions, props, camera placement and editing told a story in incredible
detail on their own.
Murnau was invited to move from Germany to America by Producer William Fox. At the newly
formed Fox Film Corporation, Murnau was allowed to make a Hollywood film of his choosing.
Basically Murnau had almost complete creative control. The resulting film, SUNRISE, was based
on a short story, "Die Reise Nach Tilsit" (A Trip To Tilsit) by Hermann Sudermann. The
screenplay was developed in Germany by Murnau and his writer, Carl Meyer. The entire film was
shot in Hollywood studios and at Lake Arrowhead, California.
The story of SUNRISE is wonderfully simple. A farmer, (George O'Brien) feeling distant from his
wife (Janet Gaynor) has an affair with a seductive woman from the city (Margaret Livingston). The
farmer nervously takes up the woman's suggestion to kill the wife in what will look like a boating
accident. At the last second, the farmer has a change of heart, and learns to truly love his wife.
The remainder of the film follows, in inventive visual terms, the re-birth of their marriage, and
what becomes of the frighteningly clever woman from the city.
Fox had high hopes for this breakthrough visual poem. The original theatrical trailer for SUNRISE
(available on the new DVD of the film) places Murnau's name above the title. (Side note: The first
film to have a trailer was THE ADVENTURES OF KATHRYN in 1912.) The 20th Century Fox DVD
of SUNRISE has the best possible visual restoration: it looks great, despite the fact that a fire at
Fox in 1937 destroyed SUNRISE's negative. You just look at the DVD and you can see why the
Motion Picture Academy had to invent a special category in order to give SUNRISE an Oscar (It
won in 1929 for "The Most Unique and Artistic Production")
John Bailey, a leading Hollywood cinematographer, provides the commentary track, pointing out
that SUNRISE's main cinematographer Karl Struss was snubbed in the opening credits. (Struss
is incorrectly billed below Charles Rosher.) Struss' other film credits include Mamoulian's DR.
JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, DeMille's THE SIGN OF THE CROSS, THE MACOMBER AFFAIR, THE
FLY, and Chaplin's LIMELIGHT. Future cult director Edgar Ulmer worked with Struss on the film's
tricky camera movements, some of which involved the camera being attached to a ceiling
mounted crane. Listen to Bailey talk about SUNRISE's "drunk piggy" scene, it's pretty funny. You
have your choice between the original Fox Movietone soundtrack, whose mood music is
haunting and creepy for certain scenes. In a comically tense scene, the tune "Funeral For a
Marionette" is used. You will recognize it as the playful theme for ALFRED HITCHCOCK
PRESENTS. In this sense, Murnau beat Hitchcock by decades. The second score, which is more
modern, was performed for a 1989 Sundance Film Festival showing of SUNRISE.
The extras don't stop (I was up to the wee hours of the morning with this DVD treat) You also get
SUNRISE out-takes (which includes an alternate take of the beautiful tracking shot of O'Brien
lumbering through the swamp, hopping a fence, and cutting though the weeds to meet his
wicked mistress, all in one take.) Another out-take actually shows Murnau at work. However, the
back cover misleads. You would think THE FOUR DEVILS, a circus melodrama Murnau made
right after SUNRISE, again with Janet Gaynor, is included. It's not. What you get are production
stills, sketches and screenplay excerpts from this missing film. The screenplays for both
SUNRISE and FOUR DEVILS are included.
SUNRISE is, to date, the latest of 20th Century Fox's DVD releases of their classics. Other than
SUNRISE, their best DVD is that timeless spaceship classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD
STILL. (Where you can get the special effects department's blueprints for building the spaceship.)
Recent AT HOME Reviews | REVIEW ARCHIVES
reviewed by Glenn Andreiev
Written by Carl Meyer, Directed by F.W Murnau
With George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
1927 Fox Film Corporation 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Unless they uncover very early film footage of Lincoln's assassination, the big film restoration
event of 2003 will be the DVD release of F.W. Murnau's SUNRISE. It is interesting to note that
SUNRISE, probably the most exciting, and visually expressive of all silent films, was released in
September, 1927, a few weeks before THE JAZZ SINGER introduced the movie soundtrack.
During the mid 20's Hollywood producers noticed that artistic German films generated big
American bucks. One of the German directors they had their eye on was F.W. Murnau. His films,
like NOSFERATU, THE LAST LAUGH and FAUST, depended very little on explanatory title cards.
His use of facial expressions, props, camera placement and editing told a story in incredible
detail on their own.
Murnau was invited to move from Germany to America by Producer William Fox. At the newly
formed Fox Film Corporation, Murnau was allowed to make a Hollywood film of his choosing.
Basically Murnau had almost complete creative control. The resulting film, SUNRISE, was based
on a short story, "Die Reise Nach Tilsit" (A Trip To Tilsit) by Hermann Sudermann. The
screenplay was developed in Germany by Murnau and his writer, Carl Meyer. The entire film was
shot in Hollywood studios and at Lake Arrowhead, California.
The story of SUNRISE is wonderfully simple. A farmer, (George O'Brien) feeling distant from his
wife (Janet Gaynor) has an affair with a seductive woman from the city (Margaret Livingston). The
farmer nervously takes up the woman's suggestion to kill the wife in what will look like a boating
accident. At the last second, the farmer has a change of heart, and learns to truly love his wife.
The remainder of the film follows, in inventive visual terms, the re-birth of their marriage, and
what becomes of the frighteningly clever woman from the city.
Fox had high hopes for this breakthrough visual poem. The original theatrical trailer for SUNRISE
(available on the new DVD of the film) places Murnau's name above the title. (Side note: The first
film to have a trailer was THE ADVENTURES OF KATHRYN in 1912.) The 20th Century Fox DVD
of SUNRISE has the best possible visual restoration: it looks great, despite the fact that a fire at
Fox in 1937 destroyed SUNRISE's negative. You just look at the DVD and you can see why the
Motion Picture Academy had to invent a special category in order to give SUNRISE an Oscar (It
won in 1929 for "The Most Unique and Artistic Production")
John Bailey, a leading Hollywood cinematographer, provides the commentary track, pointing out
that SUNRISE's main cinematographer Karl Struss was snubbed in the opening credits. (Struss
is incorrectly billed below Charles Rosher.) Struss' other film credits include Mamoulian's DR.
JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, DeMille's THE SIGN OF THE CROSS, THE MACOMBER AFFAIR, THE
FLY, and Chaplin's LIMELIGHT. Future cult director Edgar Ulmer worked with Struss on the film's
tricky camera movements, some of which involved the camera being attached to a ceiling
mounted crane. Listen to Bailey talk about SUNRISE's "drunk piggy" scene, it's pretty funny. You
have your choice between the original Fox Movietone soundtrack, whose mood music is
haunting and creepy for certain scenes. In a comically tense scene, the tune "Funeral For a
Marionette" is used. You will recognize it as the playful theme for ALFRED HITCHCOCK
PRESENTS. In this sense, Murnau beat Hitchcock by decades. The second score, which is more
modern, was performed for a 1989 Sundance Film Festival showing of SUNRISE.
The extras don't stop (I was up to the wee hours of the morning with this DVD treat) You also get
SUNRISE out-takes (which includes an alternate take of the beautiful tracking shot of O'Brien
lumbering through the swamp, hopping a fence, and cutting though the weeds to meet his
wicked mistress, all in one take.) Another out-take actually shows Murnau at work. However, the
back cover misleads. You would think THE FOUR DEVILS, a circus melodrama Murnau made
right after SUNRISE, again with Janet Gaynor, is included. It's not. What you get are production
stills, sketches and screenplay excerpts from this missing film. The screenplays for both
SUNRISE and FOUR DEVILS are included.
SUNRISE is, to date, the latest of 20th Century Fox's DVD releases of their classics. Other than
SUNRISE, their best DVD is that timeless spaceship classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD
STILL. (Where you can get the special effects department's blueprints for building the spaceship.)
Recent AT HOME Reviews | REVIEW ARCHIVES
 | |  | |  | |  |
