Murnau's first American film sits on the cusp of two eras, representing the silent film at the height of its poetic sophistication, and the sound film in its infancy. Released in late September 1927--just days before Warners released the The Jazz Singer--it was one of many silent films of 1927-28 to which a synchronized musical score was added. Sunrise, conceived by Murnau and written by Carl Mayer while they were still in Germany, looks in many ways more like a German product than an American one. Murnau took a classic, even trite situation--the marriage of a peasant couple (George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor) invaded by a big-city seductress (Margaret Livingston)--and put it in the realm of fable, stripping it of melodrama and elevating it to poetry. Sets and camera angles alike are imbued with symbolism and used to reveal psychological states. Murnau's legendary “invisible” tracking shots, the double exposures, expressive lighting, and distorted sets, all serve to immerse the viewer in the fate of these simple characters.