Sunrise (UK DVD/BD) (MOC) in September

Eureka Entertainment have announced the UK DVD and Blu-ray Disc release of F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise as part of their Masters of Cinema Series on 21st September 2009. This new 2009 reissue of Sunrise contains two versions of the film: the previously released Movietone version, and an alternate silent version of the film recently discovered in the Czech Republic. The Blu-ray edition includes both versions in 1080P (and is the first Blu-ray Disc release of the film anywhere in the world).

The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history, F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalleled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished, Murnau’s tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism.

Priced at £22.99 RRP on DVD (2-Disc Special Edition) and £24.99 RRP on Blu-ray Disc, features are outlined below…

• Restored high-definition transfers of two different versions: the American Movietone version, and the silent Czech version.
• Original English intertitles on the Movietone version, and optional English subtitles on the silent Czech version.
• Original Movietone score (mono) and alternate Olympic Chamber Orchestra score (stereo)
• Full-length audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version
• Outtakes with either John Bailey commentary or intertitles
• Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film — Janet Bergstrom’s updated 40-minute documentary about the lost Murnau film
• Original theatrical trailer
• Original ‘photoplay’ script by Carl Mayer with Murnau’s handwritten annotations (150 pages in pdf format)
• 68-page illustrated booklet with numerous essays including a new reprint of a piece by Dudley Andrew

The new cover-design is based on the original 1927 art-deco poster design.