Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £4.99 a month
Sunrise A Song of Two Humans
F.W. Murnau's enduring fable of love, loss and redemption; one of silent cinema's last and most luminous masterpieces. Presented here in its alternate Czech archive version.
Director: F.W. Murnau
Overview
Associated with 1920s German Expressionism, with its exaggerated sets and lighting techniques, acclaimed director F.W. Murnau was lured to Hollywood by producer William Fox for this expensive super-production, for which he given complete artistic control. The simple story of a husband’s betrayal of his wife with a treacherous city girl, the film moves from a fairytale-like depiction of rural life to a dynamic portrait of the bustling modern American city. The result is breathtaking in its design, visual style and intense, affecting lead performances. The film is presented here in an alternate version discovered in the Czech National Film Archive. Being edited and comprised from alternate takes (and also running at a different framerate), it runs 20 minutes shorter than the traditional English-language release, but is also widely acknowledged as offering the best quality visual presentation of the film, with a wider aspect ratio and generally sharper image.
Ranked joint 10th in the 2022 Sight and Sound Great Films of All Time poll.
Related
Bicycle Thieves Bicycle Thieves
Drama 1948 89 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema.
Girl Girl
Drama 2022 87 mins Director: Adura Onashile
Déborah Lukumuena and Le’Shantey Bonsu give stunning performances as a deeply connected mother and daughter in Adura Onashile’s tender drama.
Orphée Orphée
Drama 1950 96 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Magical retelling of the Orpheus myth by poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau.
Air Doll Air Doll
Drama 2009 116 mins Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
A life-size blow-up doll comes to life and falls in love with a video store clerk in Kore-eda Hirokazu’s haunting, melancholy meditation on urban alienation.
Floating Skyscrapers Floating Skyscrapers
Drama 2013 89 mins Director: Tomasz Wasilewski
Hailed as ‘Poland’s first LGBT film’, Tomasz Wasilewski’s striking drama follows a champion swimmer whose gay relationship causes ripples.
Sweet Sue Sweet Sue
Comedy 2022 100 mins Director: Leo Leigh
A shameless woman finds her new lover’s son wants to divide them in this cringe comic drama starring Maggie O’Neill.
Tokyo Story Tokyo Story
Drama 1953 136 mins Director: Yasujirō Ozu
A constant fixture in critics' polls, Yasujirō Ozu's most enduring masterpiece is a beautifully nuanced exploration of filial duty, expectation and regret.
Man With a Movie Camera Man With a Movie Camera
Documentary 1929 67 mins Silent Director: Dziga Vertov
Dazzling document of Soviet life, by Dziga Vertov, showing a living city and the people and machines that propel it.
La Règle du jeu La Règle du jeu
Drama 1939 102 mins Director: Jean Renoir
Renoir's depiction of an intransigent society teetering towards disaster was derided upon release and only later acclaimed as one of cinema’s most vital films.
Cléo from 5 to 7 Cléo from 5 to 7
Drama 1962 91 mins Director: Agnès Varda
Agnes Varda’s classic character study follows a successful pop singer as she wanders around Paris while awaiting the results of serious medical tests.
Citizen Kane Citizen Kane
Drama 1941 119 mins Director: Orson Welles
Given extraordinary freedom by Hollywood studio RKO for his debut film, boy wonder Orson Welles created this notoriously brilliant portrait of a media giant.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Drama 1975 202 mins Director: Chantal Akerman
Chantal Akerman's magnificent epic of experimental cinema offering a feminist perspective on recurrent events of everyday life.
Nosferatu Nosferatu
Horror 1922 89 mins Silent Director: F.W. Murnau
This influential Dracula adaptation contains some of the most famous images of expressionist film, and remains shocking and stylish after 100 years.
The Machine that Kills Bad People The Machine that Kills Bad People
Comedy 1952 84 mins Director: Roberto Rossellini and Luciano Emmer
Roberto Rossellini's film about a photographer who is given the power to rid the Earth of 'evil-doers'.
Bicycle Thieves Bicycle Thieves
Drama 1948 89 mins Director: Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica’s story of a father and son searching for a stolen bicycle on the streets of Rome is a classic of post-war Italian cinema.
Wild Men Wild Men
Comedy 2021 102 mins Director: Thomas Daneskov
In this razor-sharp black comedy featuring Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing), Martin flees to the mountains in a desperate attempt to cure his midlife crisis.
Girl Girl
Drama 2022 87 mins Director: Adura Onashile
Déborah Lukumuena and Le’Shantey Bonsu give stunning performances as a deeply connected mother and daughter in Adura Onashile’s tender drama.
Orphée Orphée
Drama 1950 96 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Magical retelling of the Orpheus myth by poet, playwright, artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau.
La Belle et la Bête La Belle et la Bête
Fantasy 1946 95 mins Director: Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau’s ravishingly restored 1946 film is a cinematic classic. “Five stars. [This] magical exploration of the fairytale is a compelling and bizarre masterpiece” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian