#34. Sunrise
- Year: 1927
- Country: USA
- Production: Fox, 97m B&W Silent
- Director: F.W. Murnau
- Producer: William Fox
- Screenplay: Carl Mayer, Hermann Sudermann
- Photography: Charles Rosher, Karl Struss
- Music: Timothy Brock, Hugo Riesenfeld
- Cast: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston, Bodil Rosing, J. Farrell MacDonald
- Oscar Wins: Best Unique and Artistic Picture, Best Actress, Best Cinematography
- Oscar Noms: Best Art Direction
- Blog Club Rating: 8.2/10
Abridged Book Description[]
Trivia buffs might note that although many history books often cite Wings as the first best Picture recipient at the Academy Awards, the honor actually went to two films: William Wellman's Wings, for "production," and F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, for "unique and artistic production." If the latter category sounds more impressive than the former, that explains in part at least why Sunrise, and not Wings, remains one of the most revered films of all time... Linked with graceful and inventive camera movements and accented with in-camera tricks (such as multiple-exposures), each scene of Sunrise looks like a masterful still photograph... Sunrise remains a benchmark by which all other films - silent or not - should be measured, a pinnacle of craft in a more primitive age whose sophistication belies the resources at the time.