There's still no Hallmark greeting cards yet, but this Tuesday marks yet another Silent Movie Day.
This year, I'm marking the occasion by accompanying 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans' (1927) at the venerable Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass.
Alas, the Brattle is the only venue in the Boston area that I know of that observes 'Silent Movie Day' with at least some silent film programming.
Two years ago, the good folks at the Brattle let me accompany the restored version of Abel Gance's 'La Roue' (1923)—all seven hours of it in one day! We started at noon and, with some brief breaks between the four parts, finished at about 8:30 p.m.
The celebration this year is a bit more modest: the Brattle ran some Chaplin shorts last Friday, and then on Tuesday it's me accompanying 'Sunrise' in a new restoration.
Show your support for Silent Movie Day by journeying to the Brattle and joining us. Showtime is at 6:30 p.m.—ironically, at about dusk.
More info about the film and the screening is found in press release below.
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TUESDAY, SEPT. 15, 2026 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
Academy Award-winning drama 'Sunrise' to screen on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at Brattle Theatre
Silent film won three honors at first-ever Academy Awards, including 'Best Actress' for Janet Gaynor; show features live musical accompaniment
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Silent film on the big screen with live music returns to the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, with the Academy Award-winning romantic drama 'Sunrise' (1927) on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m.
The screening of 'Sunrise,' starring Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien, is in honor of international 'Silent Movie Day,' which is celebrated each year on Sept. 29.
Admission is $15.50; $13.50 for members/students/seniors. Tickets available online at brattlefilm.org or at the door.
The screening will feature live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based musician who specializes in live accompaniment for silent films.
Gaynor, a popular female star of the silent film era, won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in 'Sunrise.' The movie took top honors in cinematography and was also recognized for "Unique and Artistic Production" at the inaugural awards.
'Sunrise' tells the story of a young country couple (played by Gaynor and O'Brien) whose marriage is threatened by the presence of a woman from the city (Margaret Livingston) who convinces the man to abandon his wife. Will the young husband go through with a plan to kill his wife? Will true love overcome the obstacles of temptation and the promise of short-term pleasure?
'Sunrise' was directed by F. W. Murnau, a German filmmaker and one of the leading figures in German Expressionism, a style that uses distorted art design for symbolic effect. 'Sunrise' was made when Murnau was invited by studio chief William Fox to make a film in Hollywood.
The resulting movie features enormous stylized sets that create an exaggerated, fairy-tale world. The city street set alone reportedly cost over $200,000 to build, a huge sum at the time. Much of the exterior shooting was done at Lake Arrowhead, Calif.
Full of cinematic innovations, the groundbreaking cinematography (by Charles Rosher and Karl Struss) featured moving cameras and impressive tracking shots. Titles appear sparingly, with long sequences of pure action and most of the story told in Murnau's signature visual style. The extensive use of forced perspective is striking, particularly in a shot of the city with normal-sized people and sets in the foreground and smaller figures in the background by much smaller sets.
The story of 'Sunrise' is told as a visual allegory with few specific details. The characters have no names, and the setting is not named in order to make the tale more universal and symbolic.
With a full title of 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans,' the film is regarded as one of the high points of the silent cinema. In 1988, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress for films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The Sight and Sound poll of 2012 for the British Film Institute named 'Sunrise' the fifth-best film in the history of motion pictures by critics, and 22nd by directors.
Critics continue to hail 'Sunrise' as one of the best films of all time.
"F.W. Murnau's 'Sunrise' conquered time and gravity with a freedom that was startling to its first audiences," wrote Roger Ebert in 2004. "To see it today is to be astonished by the boldness of its visual experimentation.
Rapsis, who uses original themes to improvise silent film scores, said great silent film dramas such as 'Sunrise' used their lack of dialogue to create stories that concentrated on the "big" emotions such as Love, Despair, Anger, and Joy. Because of this, audiences continue to respond to them in the 21st century, especially if they're presented as intended — with a live audience and live music.
"Dramas such as 'Sunrise' were created to be shown on the big screen as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they come to life as their creators intended them to. So the screening of 'Sunrise' on Silent Movie Day 2026 is a great chance to experience films that first caused people to fall in love with the movies," he said.
'Sunrise' will be shown with live music on Tuesday, Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m.at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, Mass.
Admission is $15.50; $13.50 for members/students/seniors. Tickets available online at brattlefilm.org or at the door.For more info, call (617) 876-6837.
