Sunrise
BUY AT:
See more details, packaging, or compare
Synopsis
The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history, F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalleled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished, Murnau’s tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism.
Made in the twilight of the silent era, it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor), Cinematography, and a never-repeated award for “Unique and Artistic Picture”, its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year.
Picture 8/10
The Masters of Cinema Series presents two versions of F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise: The original Movietone version, presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.20:1, and then the newly discovered Czech version, presented in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1. Both are presented on the same dual-layer Blu-ray disc.
I have not seen the original Masters of Cinema DVD, but have seen the North American Fox DVD. The Fox DVD looked pretty good with some minor if distracting source issues, but this new Blu-ray (which is also the first Blu-ray release for a silent film) offers a drastic improvement.
For all those that keep claiming older films can’t benefit from high-def transfers (obviously not really understanding film resolution) they should really look at the transfer found here for both versions, both of which look spectacular. As to the Movietone version there is still print damage present (the booklet presents a note stating, more or less, that it was decided not to do much in the way of digital restoration as it would “disrupt the sfumato qualities in many scenes”) with some specs of debris, scratches, tears, and some mild flickering appearing, but it’s nowhere near as bad as one would expect; it’s still incredibly clean. And as stated the digital transfer itself is superb, looking incredibly film-like. The image is about as sharp as can be expected, the picture somewhat limited because of the original materials used, but the transfer is clean and free of artifacts.
The Czech version has far more damage present but it’s actually quite a bit sharper than the Movietone version, looking quite striking. This version is actually shorter, with snips here and there (as well as some alternate shots) so the Movietone version is the one to watch, but I still recommend checking out the Czech version if just to see the quality of the image.
In all an impressive looking high-def release and a fantastic treat. I feared I’d never see a film such as Sunrise on the format and it looks as good as I hoped it would.
(While a UK release the disc is region free and should play on all Blu-ray players. I had no issue playing the disc back on my North American PS3.)
Audio 7/10
Both versions come with similar Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mono tracks presenting the film’s original score. The Movietone version also comes with an alternate Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Surround track presenting an alternate score by the Olympic Chamber Orchestra. It should be noted that the source materials for the newly discovered Czech version did not have any audio materials so the Movietone’s score was reedited to match the shorter Czech version.
Of the two the newer track does sound better, presenting excellent range and fidelity and filling out the environment beautifully. It’s sharp and crystal clear. The original mono track is certainly weaker but still nowhere near as weak as I would have expected. It actually still sounds fairly sharp with some okay range. The track is clear of noise and damage having been cleaned up beautifully.
Sound quality aside, though, I do prefer the original track. While the new track is interesting in presenting a different tone to the film I still find the original mono score more suiting and it’s the one I’ll be sticking with. In the end it’s going to come down to personal preference but know that the audio quality on both is exceptional.
Extras 8/10
For their new Blu-ray release Masters of Cinema has included some great features, most of which have appeared on other DVD editions (including Masters of Cinema’s original DVD release.)
The most notable feature is the Czech version of the film, which so far is exclusive to this release and the DVD counterpart. It runs about 80-minutes compared to the Movietone’s 93-minutes. As I mentioned in the video section of this review the picture quality is a bit better than the Movietone version, looking far sharper, though containing far more damage to the print. It’s interesting to view, containing a few differences in comparison to the Movietone version. But while the image is quite a bit sharper here I would still recommend sticking with the Movietone. As the booklet points out there is no evidence as to which one comes closest to Murnau’s preferred version, but some of the cuts and trims are bizarre and there is suspicion that some of the excised sequences were cut out simply because the film was in bad condition. Of course again it may come down to personal preference but no matter what the Czech version is a wonder to behold, giving the sharpest, clearest picture for this visual spectacle of a film and it is certainly worth viewing for anyone fond of the film. (Note: The menu has the times reversed. The Movietone version states it’s 79-minutes while the Czech version states it’s 93-minutes, when in fact the opposite is true. The Movietone version comes with English intertitles naturally, but the Czech version comes with Czech intertitles with optional English subtitles.
As mentioned in the audio portion of this review the Movietone version also comes with an alternate score composed by the Olympic Chamber Orchestra. Sound quality is excellent but I can’t say I was too fond of it. Again, personal preference, but even though it does take some influences from the original Movietone score, the tone of it just didn’t fit the film for me. It’s worth giving it a go, though, at least once.
The Movietone version also plays with an audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey, which appeared on the Fox DVD and the original Masters of Cinema DVD (or I suspect it to be the same track, again I haven’t seen the original Masters of Cinema DVD.) As a director of photography he is certainly an excellent choice to provide a commentary for what is a visually complex film, with some impressive and stunning camerawork. Though it can maybe take some of the awe out of it it’s intriguing listening to him break down some sequences, and it moves by rather briskly. He also points out things he is unsure about, possible compromises Murnau made have made with William Fox, and also provides theories as to how some sequences were shot. It gets technical but I found it fascinating and it has very few dead spaces. Certainly worth listening to.
The presentation for the outtakes is a little bizarre, presented without a commentary track or with one provided again by John Bailey. What’s odd is that the time lengths differ, the “non-commentary” version runs about 9-minutes and 15-seconds while the commentary version runs just shy of 10-minutes. The “non-commentary” version also has intertitles. While they present a lot of the same outtakes they both also contain outtakes not found in the other version, such as the non-commentary version showing footage of Murnau. I found it odd and am not completely sure why it was done this way, but both are worth viewing since they do contain some differing material. As to the commentary, it has Bailey explain some of the differences, where he can see them anyways.
Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film is a 41-minute visual essay by Janet Bergstrom. Murnau’s film 4 Devils is long lost and in this essay Bergstrom covers the film’s history and even tries to offer a sort-of recreation of it using portions of the script, notes, and blueprints and designs. There’s also photos from the set (including one of the set) and of the performers. I’ve been fairly fascinated with this film so this was an excellent comprehensive piece on it.
The disc then closes with the original theatrical trailer for the film.
Originally the release was to come with something like a 120-page booklet, but this was ultimately abandoned due to the girth of it. Instead we get a 20-page booklet featuring notes on the two film versions, the restoration, and the Blu-ray itself. Masters of Cinema also provided a download on their site, a zip file which includes the script for 4 Devils and the original photoplay for Sunrise, both in Word format. There’s also a PDF for the Sunrise screenplay, which looks to be a copy of whatever version Fox has in their library (complete with studio stamps and markings.) There is also a reprint of an article on the film by Dudley Andrew, complete with references to stills from the film. It’s 38-pages and is also presented in PDF format. The download for this zip file can be found on MoC’s page for Sunrise here.
In all a nice selection of supplements, though they’ve been available elsewhere, but they’re still worth going through and the inclusion of the Czech version is an excellent find and makes for a great inclusion.
Closing
I applaud everyone involved with this disc. The transfer is incredible and it looks fantastic, despite the damage still present (which, let’s face it, isn’t at all bad when one considers the age of the film.) I love this release, one of my favourite Blu-rays from 2009, and it shows just how Blu-ray can benefit older films, even those from the silent era. Absolutely lovely.
BUY AT:
