Center receives 1927 film

A restored print of a 1927 film that received two inaugural Academy Awards in 1929 has been donated to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research by Twentieth Century-Fox.

The film, “Sunrise,” was directed by Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. It features some of the largest sets ever constructed for a film and makes use of Murnau’s trademark moving-camera work.

“We’re very glad to have such a fine copy of this film to make available to the public, since its preservation history has been so fraught with difficulties,” says Michele Hilmes, director of the center, which is an archive co-sponsored by UW–Madison and the Wisconsin Historical Society.

Restoration of the film was a collaborative effort that spanned the Atlantic Ocean and involved Twentieth Century-Fox, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive.

Before the original negative for the film was destroyed in a fire in the 1930s, a 35mm copy was struck.

That copy, now held by the National Film and Television Archive in Berkhempstead, England, is too fragile to project or move from the British archive, so staff there hand-cleaned it and made a duplicate, except for a few scenes that could not be copied.

Hilmes says an earlier copy of the same print was used to complete the new version.

“Sunrise” won an Academy Award for unique and artistic picture. Cinematographers Charles Rosher and Karl Struss also were honored.