Vonia Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Director: F.W. Munrau Watched: April 2018 Rating: 9/10 Unnamed Man and Woman tell an allegorical tale of good and evil, temptations against true love; Loved watching her turn his frowns upside down- Man having a much more austere personality than Woman; Lessons learned that stand the test of time, like forgiveness, loyalty, love's perseverance, and the fact that the best pictures are candid; Despite occasional dragging pace, near perfect harmony of comedy, suspense, romance, and sincerity; Munrau proves that the minimalism of silent films is something to be celebrated and coveted. Gogyohka literally translates to "five-line poem." An alternative to the tanka form, the gogyohka has very simple rules. Five lines with one phrase per line. What comprises a phrase? Eye of the beholder- or the poet, in this case. #Gogyohka #PoemReview #BestPicture #Classics #Silent

jacobs-greenwood Directed by F. W. Murnau, this silent classic is a visual marvel, even the dialogue pages are artistically done! It's the story of a farmer (George O'Brien) who's tempted by a city woman (Margaret Livingston), who meets him on her vacation and has an affair with him, to attempt to murder his sweet wife (Janet Gaynor), with whom he has a young child. The film won an Academy Award for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production, and helped Ms. Gaynor (along with 7th Heaven (1927) and Street Angel (1928)) earn Best Actress honors the very first year that such awards were given. Charles Rosher and Karl Struss, who would go on to receive 8 more nominations, including Rosher's win for The Yearling (1946), between them, took home the Cinematography award for their work on this film. Rochus Gliese's Art Direction was also nominated.Things are not going well for a young farming family; the man (O'Brien) is sneaking out at night to have an affair with a vacationing city woman (Livingston) while his wife (Gaynor) stays at home with their infant and creditors slowly take the assets from their farm. The neighbors gossip about his downfall and their ruin. After one particularly passionate night, when the city woman describes the wonders of the city to the man, she uses her influence over him to convince him to murder his wife. She even tells him how to do it, by drowning her. He returns home with plans to do so then, after a night's sleep, asks her to take a trip with him across the lake. She is thrilled, and dances with their maid (Bodil Rosing) who will care for the child during their absence, because she assumes he's finally come to his senses and returned to her.Once they are out on the lake, though he can't go through with it, she has read his intentions. She cries uncontrollably and then flees him when they get to the other side. She seeks refuge on a trolley car which he's barely able to catch, having chased her through the woods apologizing. Though he insists he won't harm her, once the trolley stops in the city, she exits without him and wanders across the busy street seemingly not caring if she's killed in its traffic. He catches up to her and ushers her safely across the street. Finally they end up in a church, where a wedding is taking place. When he hears the wedding vows, he begs her forgiveness and cries as she comforts his head on her lap. They leave the church oblivious to all else, walking blissfully across the street as if they're in a beautiful field back home. Of course they are not, and the honking, stopped traffic brings them back to the present.The couple then experiences the wonders of the city together, visiting a barber (Ralph Sipperly), a photographer (J. Farrell MacDonald), who catches them "on paper" in an embrace, and dancing together. Each is gently "tempted" by another, he by a manicure girl (Jane Winton), she by an obnoxious man (Arthur Housman), but both of these characters serve only to show each's concern for the other. They return home by moonlight, sailing across the very same lake together, when a storm causes interrupts their journey and capsizes their boat. Has fate conspired to make the earlier, evil plans a reality?Of course not! No, this one's not spoiled by such a tragedy. Though the man leads the townspeople on a desperate search for his wife, coming to believe that she perished in the lake, a wise seaman (Eddie Boland) from the community saves her. But, not before the mourning man is approached by the city woman and nearly strangles her in anger. The sunrises over the small farming community to find the man and the woman happily together, with their child, in wedded bliss once again.

Smoreni Zmaj Beautiful, perfectly filmed story about love, passion, guilt and redemption. In my opinion, his sin is unforgivable, but if you are able to get over that, you'll enjoy for sure. Camera, directing, acting, music, everything is perfect. Movie leans on German expressionism and it truly is visual work of art. This is the only movie in history to win Academy Award for Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production, maybe because it was the single year that award existed, and maybe because no movies deserved it ever after. Beside that, it won Best Cinematography and Best Female Leading Role. Film keeps attention and conveys strong emotions. This is the very best silent movie I ever saw.

thinbeach For entertainment and enjoyment of cinema, unfortunately I cannot recommend this film. I say unfortunately, because it features some of the finest cinematography (and mise en scene) you will ever see on film, cinematography that deserves to be recognised. But the flaws detract so far that it is labourous to sit through.A femme-fatale city woman on holiday convinces a country man to murder his wife so they can be together. He tells his wife they are going across the lake to spend a day in the city, but secretly intends to drown her along the way. Despite knowing, and being desperately upset, that he cheated on her the night before, his wife apparently seems thrilled at this adventure. When out on the boat however, he can't bring himself to do it. She is upset for a few moments, but he buys her flowers and she is once again in love, her near murder forgiven. They then spend the next half of the movie having some random fun in the city, while you squint through the fair rides trying to find where the plot went. If it sounds unbelievable on paper, it is even more so on film, partly because it is just unbelievable, but partly because there is so little dialogue that any reasonable conversations are side-stepped. The actors just hold their conversations with very intent gazes.As is typical with Murnau films, movements are often excruciatingly slow, while a great emphasis is placed on emotional details which were already easily understood. A far less indulgent story teller moves on from these movements quickly, lest they insult the audiences intelligence, but Murnau lingers and lingers, as if to bludgeon them into your brain. The result is something that is pleasant to look at, but a chore to watch.