City Girl is another gem from the German master film maker F.W.Murnau, who directed the masterpiece, Sunrise.
City Girl is similar to Sunrise in it's comparison of urban versus rural life and a conflicted relationship between a man and a woman. The couple, Kate and Lem meet in the crowded, gritty city of Chicago where Kate is living an uninspired existence as a waitress and an immediate attraction takes place. Lem is lonely too we gather and under the autocratic thumb of his father. He seems to be independent for the first time in his life, ( he's there to sell the wheat crop.) and makes the decision to marry Kate without asking his fathers approval. After they return to the farm, the conflicts between Lem and Kate and his father and the lead farmhand take place.
This movie doesn't have the dream states, camera moves or super-impositions of the earlier film, but there are several good scenes, notably when the camera follows Lem and Kate as they run through the wheat fields, and the scenes of the wheat harvest which have such a real to life feel to them you almost feel that you're there as the work is going on! As human drama, a study of complicated interpersonal relationships, and the conflict between man and nature, I highly recommend this film! Murnau's masterful use of lighting is also present in this film, with the last scenes occurring at night with shadows so dark only lanterns can penetrate them, casting moody shadows and intensifying the action.
City Girl is similar to Sunrise in it's comparison of urban versus rural life and a conflicted relationship between a man and a woman. The couple, Kate and Lem meet in the crowded, gritty city of Chicago where Kate is living an uninspired existence as a waitress and an immediate attraction takes place. Lem is lonely too we gather and under the autocratic thumb of his father. He seems to be independent for the first time in his life, ( he's there to sell the wheat crop.) and makes the decision to marry Kate without asking his fathers approval. After they return to the farm, the conflicts between Lem and Kate and his father and the lead farmhand take place.
This movie doesn't have the dream states, camera moves or super-impositions of the earlier film, but there are several good scenes, notably when the camera follows Lem and Kate as they run through the wheat fields, and the scenes of the wheat harvest which have such a real to life feel to them you almost feel that you're there as the work is going on! As human drama, a study of complicated interpersonal relationships, and the conflict between man and nature, I highly recommend this film! Murnau's masterful use of lighting is also present in this film, with the last scenes occurring at night with shadows so dark only lanterns can penetrate them, casting moody shadows and intensifying the action.