The Silent Film Bookshelf
Reprints of Original Documents From the Silent Film Era
December 1997 - Sunrise: Artistic Success, Commercial Flop?
F.W. Murnau's Sunrise was a critical success for Fox Film Corp.
upon its original release in 1927. Sunrise ran for 28 weeks in its
Manhattan showcase engagement, and it was important to Murnau's sponsor,
William Fox, that the film be seen as a success. The studios would sometimes
run their biggest pictures at a loss in their own big-city theatres to
underscore a film's prestige and to support sales to exhibitors in other
cities. The success of Sunrise was challenged by New York-based
P.S. Harrison, the editor of "Harrison's Reports," a weekly four page newsletter
whose subscribers were independent exhibitors, often in small towns. The
battle over Sunrise was fought by Harrison and the General Sales
Manager for Fox in the pages of "Harrison's Reports."
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