SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (1927) movie review

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) d. Murnau, F.W. (USA)

Oscar’s first – and only – winner of the “Best Unique and Artistic Picture” Award. (Wings would take the official “Best Picture” honors, starting the Academy Awards off on their merry history of handing out the top prize based on Hollywood politics as opposed to actual merit - sure, those flying sequences are pretty cool but the rest of the movie? Come on.) Married farmer George O'Brien falls under the spell of The Woman from the City (Margaret Livingston), who tries to convince him to drown his devoted wife Janet Gaynor. With this relatively simple, almost fable-like plot as his canvas, F.W. Murnau (Faust, Nosferatu) unleashed a bevy of groundbreaking techniques that continue to amaze 80 years later.

THE LAST LAUGH (1924) movie review

Last Laugh, The (1924) d. Murnau, F. W. (Germany)

F. W. Murnau’s extraordinary silent film manages to tell its entire narrative – with one equally extraordinary exception – from a purely cinematic standpoint, without the use of intertitles. A heartbreaking melodrama about a posh hotel’s aging doorman (Emil Jannings) whose position means everything. When he is removed from his post and sent to work as a washroom attendant, his shame and devastation is profoundly felt by the viewer, touching us in a way that words could only hint at.