Sunrise

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is one of the most historically pivotal of all films. The first American film of the celebrated German director F.W. Murnau, Sunrise tells the story of a love triangle between characters named only as The Man, The Wife, and The Woman from the City.

Lucy Fischer’s compelling study of the film shows how it mediates between German expressionism and American melodrama, the avantgarde and popular film, silent cinema and ‘talkies’. A lavish and sumptuous production famous for its vast, specially-constructed sets, and one of the first feature films with a synchronized musical score and sound effects soundtrack, Sunrise was one of early Hollywood’s most ambitious undertakings.

In her foreword to this new edition, Lucy Fischer considers the film as an abiding classic of world cinema.

Author Biography

Lucy Fischer retired in 2018 as a Distinguished Professor of English and Film Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, USA. Her most recent book is Cinemagritte: René Magritte Within the Frame of Film History, Theory and Practice (2020).