MovieChat Forums > Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) Discussion > Where were the city scenes filmed?

Where were the city scenes filmed?

posted 14 years ago by Eric-1226
8 replies | jump to latest

I couldn't readily identify the city. Anyone know? According to the filming locations here on IMDb, it looks to be a US-based film, but that city... I don't know. Double-decker bus here and there, and a few of the shop windows had unfamiliar words, as did some of the other signage. Or maybe it was the director's intent to mix it up a bit, to stick with the theme of this story could happen not in any one place in particular, but really, anywhere.

And good does not always triumph. Sometimes the Dark Side overcomes what Lincoln called 'the better angels of our nature.' – Apocalypse Now

[–] turtletommy 14 years ago

Look in the trivia section, it says the "city" was a vast set specially built just for this film.

[–] Eric-1226 14 years ago

That would make sense. The city seemed vaguely familiar, but at the same time I couldn't place it at all. Nice work by the director to make the story an "anywhere, everywhere" story.

And I thought, "My God, the genius of that, the genius, the will to do that." – Apocalypse Now

[–] zoolzool 14 years ago

The whole place was built from the ground up on the Fox studio backlot..... I'm fairly certain I got that one right. :)

And I think you're right about the director trying to make this movie seem as if it could happen in any place and/or every place. Something like that.

georgeobrien.us

[–] skin_job 14 years ago

The whole place was built from the ground up on the Fox studio backlot..... I'm fairly certain I got that one right. :)

That's right. That enormous set was built - including railway btw - where Century City now stands in L.A. The city wasn't quite as big as it appeared in the wide shots, though. They built the buildings in the distance smaller than normal and used children in the background to match it - it's called "forced perspective".

Objects in spoiler appear wittier than they actually are

[–] Eric-1226 14 years ago

[–] d.doherty 14 years ago

Your question is one of the greatest pieces of praise for this eminently praiseworthy film. The city does look so real, but it's actually quite stylized - any city with traffic patterns this chaotic would have fatalities on an hourly basis.

You can see these same sets in the city scenes in John Ford's "Four Sons"(1928), but there they definitely look like sets. Murnau knew how to make them look real.

"It's all right, as a matter of fact it's a gas."

[–] gluey 14 years ago

"any city with traffic patterns this chaotic would have fatalities on an hourly basis."

Some cities did have chaotic traffic (although perhaps not as bad as depicted in Sunrise).

Here's a good clip of some traffic 20 years before Sunrise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOxRxze9k

It's not highly chaotic, but you can still get a sense of how people just made up their own paths at times. There's a nice dodge around the 2:36 mark.

[–] 14 years ago

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