"SUNRISE."

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19508, 3 January 1929, Page 7

"SUNRISE."

MURNAU'S GREAT TRIUMPH. Wliat is the lure tliat makes a man fdrget home and hearth for passing pleasures? What is this most powerful of all human emotions t And what is Conscience, raising its little voice against the roaring torrent of this emotion? In these few words one has the kernel of "Sunrise," the first Americanmade picture of IT. W. Murnau, the German genius who was responsible for "Faust." "Sunrise" opens a season at Crystal Palace Theatre next Monday. For theme, Murnau, like all the truly great, has taken the simplest, most ordinary theme open to playwright or producer; a man, a woman, another woman. The old triangle, the critics said when they saw the film- unravelling, but soon changed their words to rapture and eulogy as this most intense drama of domesticity versus sex was told. George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor are the young husband and wife, a pleasant, ignorant, homely pair, with their baby< Margaret Livingstone is the dark and seductive woman from the city, who lures the man from his wife, instils thoughts even of wife-destruction in his crazed head, then, in an amazing series of incidents, sees her careful work falling to pieces before her eyes. The story is obvious and overage, so there must be other factors which make "Spnrise" one of the greatest motion pictures yet made. Is it acting, photography, the guiding hand of Murnau! Evidently the cooperation of all these, for Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien together cannot make a picture; trick angles and bizarre lighting do not compensate for drama or a lack thereof—but all three have combined in "Sunrise" in moments of tragedy, in humour, from the. tender and wistful to the boisterous and the gay; moments of romance, moments of mundane passion—man, woman, and the elemental urge of things pass beneath Murnau's hand, pass before the lights and shadows of his camera, and emerge as art, life, that wonderful thing known as "Sunrise." This picture ranks with "Faust," and such-like films, and the cultured and critical theatregoers of Christchurch will unquestionably see in "Sunrise" the hallmarks of that same genius they saw exactly twelve months ago in "Faust." There is a competition in conjunction with "Sunrise," which is open to all "Sunrise" audiences. A prize of five guineas is to be offered to the lady or child wearing, on the Crystal Palace stage on the night of Thursday, January 10th, a costume fashioned from Denniston's crepe paper, most like that of Janet Gaynor's, which she wears in the city scene in "Sunrise." Particulars may be received from Whitcombe and Tombs, who are also offering free advice on the creation of the costume. The audience will be the sole judges. The special engagement of Miss Etta Field, the brilliant young New Zealand soprano, is also booked for next week. Miss Field is Auckland-born, and has just returned from sensational triumphs on the London and Paris concert platforms. She is the possessor of a magnificent soprano voice, which has been carefully trained, and which she used with great skill. In a delightful repertoire of songs, Hiss Field will be heard to fine advantage. Box plans for this excellent season are now at The Bristol Piano Company.