F.W. Murnau’s SUNRISE & CITY GIRL, two major inspirations for Michel Hazanavicius’ THE ARTIST, are available as dual format editions in Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA series.
With the current success at the cinema of The Artist & Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (not itself a silent film but its main storyline centres on the work of the early cinematic pioneer Georges Méliès) everyone is talking about a silent film revival.
Eureka’s Masters of Cinema catalogue invites the viewer to sample a vast body of work that makes use of the silent aesthetic, featuring films from Murnau (Sunrise, City Girl, Nosferatu), Lang (Metropolis, Frau Im Mond,Testament of Dr Mabuse) and Buster Keaton amongst others and later this year Carl Th. Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc.
The 'silent' camera was allowed an incredible mobility that simultaneously "opened up" the inner world of the film, and encouraged new and ingeniously inspired ways to represent both ideas and emotion. Even when particular silent works might not be best characterized as "Expressionist," the mantra of the silent cinema might nevertheless be summarized as such: "Let the image express what words cannot." And as Norma Desmond put it so well in remembrance of her pedigree: "We didn't need dialogue. We had FACES."
F. W. Murnau's Sunrise (1927) and City Girl (1929) were major inspirations for Michel Hazanavicius’ writing and creation of The Artist (2011). Amongst the last of the sophisticated silent movie utopia classics, Sunrise won 3 Academy Awards in 1927 and was voted one of the 10 greatest films ever made in the hugely influential once-a-decade Sight & Sound film critic’s poll in 2002.
In 2009 when Sunrise was first released on blu-ray in the UK by Eureka Entertainment, it became the very first silent movie, anywhere in the world to be produced on Blu-ray in 1080p HD.
Sunrise and City Girl both feature in Eureka Entertainment’s MASTERS OF CINEMA series alongside over 20 other silent movies. As a distributor, when including EUREKA's other silent titles, the label has more silent titles than any other British label.
SUNRISE: SYNOPSIS
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.
Eureka Entertainment’s Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new dual format edition (Blu-ray and 2 x DVD) of Sunrise, including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source.
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SUNRISE: AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS
- Winner of three Oscars®: Best Actress, Cinematography, and a one-off award for "Unique and Artistic Picture"
- Voted one of the 10 greatest films ever made in the hugely influential once-a-decade Sight & Sound film critics poll in 2002.
SUNRISE: SPECIAL FEATURES
• Restored high-definition transfers of two different versions: the American Movietone version, and the silent Czech version.
• Original English intertitles on the Movietone version, and optional English subtitles on the silent Czech version.
• Original Movietone score (mono) and alternate Olympic Chamber Orchestra score (stereo)
• Full-length audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version
• Outtakes with either John Bailey commentary or intertitles
• Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film — Janet Bergstrom’s updated 40-minute documentary about the lost Murnau film
• Original theatrical trailer
• Original ‘photoplay’ script by Carl Mayer with Murnau’s handwritten annotations (150 pages in pdf format)
• 68-page illustrated booklet with numerous essays including a new reprint of a piece by Dudley Andrew.
SUNRISE: REVIEWS
“Released in 1927, the last year of silent film, it's a pinnacle of that lost art.” – Dave Kehr, CHICAGO READER
“This sexy melodrama and intense psychological thriller provides an original and satisfying mix of romanticism, artifice and realism.” – David Parkinson, EMPIRE
“One of the last great silent movies.” – Philip French, THE OBSERVER
“An example of True Love styled to cinema perfection.” – Geoff Andrew, TIME OUT
“A film masterpiece” – Mordaunt Hall, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Silent cinema aspired to be a universal language. Here, in the hands of a master, it communicates breathtakingly ★★★★★” – Philip Horne, DAILY TELEGRAPH
“For its sense of innovation, it is as important as Citizen Kane ★★★★★” – Ian Freer, EMPIRE
DVD of the week ★★★★★ - Alan Stanbrook, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
★★★★★ - Anton van Beek, HOME CINEMA CHOICE
“Sublime ★★★★★” – Siobhan Murphy, THE METRO
“One of the greatest silent movies, stunningly presented ★★★★★” – Philip Kemp, DVD & BLU-RAY REVIEW
SUNRISE: DETAILS
Label: Eureka Entertainment Ltd
Catalogue No: EKA70050 (RETAIL ONLY)
Barcode: 5060000700503
RRP: £20.42
Release Date: 12 September 2011 (Available NOW!)
Certificate: U
Run Time: 93 & 79 min. approx.
Format: 1.20:1 & 1.37:1 OAR / B&W
Genre: World Cinema/ Movie Classic
Director: F.W. Murnau
Year: 1927
Country: USA
Language: English
Subtitles: English SDH (Optional)
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