I have waited so long to see this film screened and with
live accompaniment. Normally the film is shown with its score from the early
talkie period - Sunrise being one of
the first feature films with a synchronized musical and sound effects
soundtrack - but as it is one of the toppermost films of the silent canon, I
just had to see it done proper… and I couldn’t have chosen a lovelier venue or
a better accompanist.
Elizabeth-Jane Baldrey gets more sonic variation from her
harp than you’d expect; not only does she use the frame for percussion (fingers
tapping to create the skin-crawling sound of scampering rats for Nosferatu…), she hits groups of strings
with her palm to generate atonal power chords, picks off the harmonic sweet
spots with alacrity – hard enough on a six-string – and genuinely creates a
singular cinematic language from bliss to bedlam. She can even vary the tension
on the strings using the foot pedal to create a kind of metallic sound: I have
seen the future of accompaniment and it could be 47 string grunge!!
 |
| Margaret Livingston |
She was on super form with Sunrise, and as with most of us, Janet Gaynor’s toupee aside, feels
it is deservedly in high regard. She mixed improvisations with some lovely
pre-scoring – honestly, if you don’t feel the fear when big George looms over
tiny Janet in the boot, or, darn it, cry a tear, when the two finally
re-connect, then you’re probably in the phantom zone. But Baldry doesn’t
over-play the positive emotion in the film and the surprise, if you haven’t
seen harp accompaniment before, is just how dark it can go.
Murnau’s film is a fable and as such has various elements of
traditional Teutonic fairy stories, Grimm though they be. Yes, George O’Brien’s
Man falls all too readily under the spell of the Woman form the City (Margaret
Livingstone) but she has put a spell on him; a female version of Nosferatu
whose silken stockings and knock-out undergarments, make him incapable of
reason.
He agrees to kill his sweet wife because he is under the
control of this jazz-age succubus, his assignations are even in the swamps,
hardly the kind of place to charm a regular flapper: there is demonic power at
play and Janet Gaynor’s Wife knows just by the dark shadow cast by her huge
husband that all sense of himself has left.
 |
| George O'Brien towers over Janet Gaynor |
After he pulls back, he repeatedly says “don’t be frightened
of me” … a mantra with little persuasion given his actions and it’s only when
the couple are thrown together by the alien world of the city that they begin
to discover each other again. They go to a hair salon where George gets a shave
and Janet hold on to her wig for dear life. When glamourous Jane Winton (a
small but key role) arrives to offer the strapping lad a manicure – way to
“un-sex” him now – he looks down in horror and declines and it’s another sign
that he’s coming to his senses.
The two head to a nightclub after George rescues and escaped
piglet (long story) and the band plays a peasant tune allowing the tow to show
the townies what real dancing is: it’s a romantic display between two lovers
and the jaded jazzers step back in respect. Oddly, one man keeps on replacing
the shoulder straps of a slinky lady next to him, almost as if the couple’s
dance has raised the bar of morality…
The couple walk through Murnau’s carefully choreographed
streets as traffic passes them by and they even end up in an imagined field of
blossoms. They are making their own reality.
  |
| The City sleeps as they walk |
When they get their photographs taken, it is not in a formal
pose but in a clinch the photographer is delighted to capture. He seen enough
posturing and recognises unconditional expression when he sees it.
All the other drama is there to enable this sunrise of a new
devotion and naturally Murnau creates a universe of unreal perspectives – part
set/part camera angles – architecture from a Europe left behind and a city of
dreams and impossible structure – models in the foreground and at the back to
create impossible depths and the impression of an endless city in constant
flow. Amongst this emerge two humans in song, once more in perfect accord
despite his mad moments of doubt.
It's interesting to compare with Murnau’s later City Girl which also features a young couple
under pressure only they are very much in the real world of economics and more
everyday wrong-doings. Sunrise has
maybe more in common with the same director’s Faust?
 |
| George passes the Jane Winton test... |
Technically it is a, frequently astonishing, film with those
forced perspectives – gauze was used in the windows of some city scenes in
order to reveal the extraordinary elaboration beyond. The two cinematographers,
Charles Rosher and Karl Struss, maximise the anxious angularities and there are
countless dolly shots as they cut through scenes placing the viewer deep within
the heart of the interior stories of lives defined by locations: from the secret meeting with the seductress in the swamps to city streets melting away to reveal those blossoms.
In truth there's so much to discuss about the film, even weighed down by the expectations of its enduring reputation, this is a film with very high levels of content from all parties. I even watched it again just to grab these few images... result hundreds of screen shots that are all mini-marvels in their own right.
 |
| The peasant dance is completely free of city formalities - just pure passion |
The storm at the end is pathetic fallacy in excelsis
completing the lover’s journey with the final test of fate and faith.
Elizabeth-Jane’s harp flowed alongside the conflagration and in contrapuntal
opposition to thunder-cracks and flash. In her hands the harp is so flexible,
fragile and fierce; the perfect instrument for Murnau’s timeless fantasy.
While George and Janet perform so well we shouldn’t overlook
the playing of Margaret Livingston who gets her clutches into the country boy
but is surely driven by something more than malice; Murnau always had a soft
spot for his vampires.
Sunrise is available
on Blu-ray and DVD combo from Eureka, but I’d gladly swap all of that for this
experience of FWM and E-JB in the EMC at YSFF18.
Full details of the excellent programme for this year is available on the Festival's website.
 |
| No, er, not the hair... it's erm, a very special cut... |
.JPG)
No comments:
Post a Comment