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Murnau demonstrates his strength by elevating a relatively simple tragic-romantic story into true art. The techniques used here, where images seamlessly and emotionally blend together, are beautiful. The action scene on the water is also excellently executed. And what's more, it has a beautiful ending. This is again an example of how strong films could be made as early as the 1920s, with excellent use of filmmaking techniques - in this case, even incorporating sound effects, which was their first use in cinema before The Jazz Singer. (08.07.2014)

Indescribable beauty; so few words (intertitles), so much filmmaking skill, emotions and moods. Murnau alternates horror with heart-rending melodrama and hilarious slapstick, without creating a contrasting impression, but a constant gradual thrill of deepening and exploring the relationship between the two main characters. And there are more amazing filmmaking techniques and ideas than in any other Hollywood film of the 1920s (from the elaborate camera rides to the use of rear projection to the inventive camera angles and harmonious blending of shots and scenes). Without exaggeration, one of the top five most influential films of the silent era. (08.03.2018)

Murnau did not disappoint my expectations of a groundbreaking film and managed to direct a cast of excellent actors who play archetypal characters of silent film (sweetly naive wife, demonic mistress, demonic and later sweetly naive husband). In addition, the visual arrangement is bursting with ideas, and in a captivating scene at the end, it brilliantly allows the music to play, depicting the husband's call into darkness. (17.04.2006)

If I admire cosmopolitan personalities, it is often because I enjoy their work in all the destinations where fate has taken them. Not so much Murnau, this god of Weimar. Sunrise is simply not a film that I can compare to the highlights of his domestic work, such as Nosferatu, The Last Laugh, Tartuffe, or Faust. I also can’t get over Janet Gaynor's creation and the whole petty bourgeois issue. (16.03.2012)

Even though Sunrise is a film from the silent era of cinema, it still managed to win me over and hold my attention as a viewer from the second decade of the 21st century. I liked the film both in terms of technical workmanship (dramatic scenes, camera work and various effects) and in terms of the story, which was definitely not bland and could easily be translated to the screen even today. One of those films made in such a timeless way that it never gets old and will always appeal to an audience. (01.07.2015)