Sunrise: A Song Of Two Humans (1927)

A farmer (George O'Brien) in a coastal town is having an affair with a woman (Margaret Livingston) vacationing from the city. She urges him to murder his wife (Janet Gaynor in an Oscar winning performance) and then come with her back to the city. Based on the short story THE EXCURSION TO TILSIT by Hermann Sudermann and directed by the German director F.W. Murnau (NOSFERATU) in his American film debut. Not only on every list of the greatest films of the silent era but the greatest films ever made, period. While its plot is simple (but not simplistic), its execution is brilliant. Visually, it doesn't look like any other American film made in the silent era. Murnau, who had complete artistic control, brings his strong expressionistic style to the bearing of the movie. It didn't win the best picture Oscar (that went to WINGS) but even back then, they knew this was something special and it received its own Oscar for being "unique and artistic". Murnau's death at 42 was a tragedy. Who knows how many other masterpieces he had in him. With J. Farrell MacDonald, Ralph Sipperly and Jane Winton.