Wow! What a wonderful surprise. Before I go any further, I must first admit that my knowledge of silent film is far from expert and that what exposure I do have has come within the last year or two, mostly as part of an avocational venture into the history of a medium I truly love. I have watched quite a few movies now from the pioneering decades of film and always with a sense of curiosity and respect, but few of them have grabbed me with anything much more than an intellectual and historical interest. How wonderful it was to finally see this masterpiece.
Sunrise is a wonderful story told remarkably well. While I must admit that the storyline had a crazier mood swing than a pregnant woman with a bi-polar disorder, it really didn’t bother me. I was simply to entranced by all of the amazing things I was seeing. Every shot was obviously very well thought out and some of the lighting, camera tricks, editing, and special effects left me with a grip of material to rip-off should I ever get around to actually making a film. While there was no dialogue, this really can’t be called a silent film. The soundtrack added to the story wonderfully with some beautiful choices in music and sparingly, but well used atmospheric noise and sound effects. Finally, the acting was wonderful. Melodramatic emoting seems to be an evil necessity in silent film, and this flick certainly had its share of it, but there was also some subtlety and depth of character in the acting that I found refreshing for a film of this period. Wonderful movie regardless of age or era.