Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents a collection saluting F. W. Murnau and Frank Borzage whose daring camera movements and visually extravagant styles were integral in the development of modern movies and the studio that allowed them to flourish with Now, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment presents a collection saluting F. W. Murnau and Frank Borzage whose daring camera movements and visually extravagant styles were integral in the development of modern movies and the studio that allowed them to flourish with MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FOX, available December 9.      

At the very first Academy Awards in May, 1929, two directors cemented their place in cinematic history as F.W. Murnau's Sunrise took home the prize for Unique and Artistic Picture and Frank Borzage garnered Best Director for 7th Heaven.  At the time, both men were under contract with William Fox, owner of Fox Film Corporation, who had invested heavily on making sure that movie directors were the stars of his films, gambling that audiences would gravitate to strong stories told by brilliant filmmakers.  These awards validated Fox's vision for movies as an art form and these two director's craft.

Celebrating their collected works, their influence on director's to follow and their collaborations with William Fox in the late 1920s and early 1930s, MURNAU, BORZAGE AND FOX features 12 films from the Hollywood legends including newly remastered versions of Murnau's Sunrise and Borzage's 7th Heaven, as well as an all-new feature length documentary from filmmaker John Cork looking at William Fox's patronage and Murnau and Borzage's effect on the film industry.  Additionally, the set features two exclusive hard-cover books showcasing rare, unpublished photos from the careers of both filmmakers, one of which focuses solely on Murnau's 4 Devils, the lost film considered by those that saw it to be the greatest movie ever made, pushing the boundaries of what Hollywood movies were at the time.

While his career was cut short due to a fatal auto accident in 1931 at the age of 42, the impact of F.W. Murnau on the film community can still be felt to this day.   Heralded by his contemporaries such as John Ford, Allan Dwan, William Wellman, Howard Hawks and Raoul Walsh during his time at the studio, William Fox brought the expressionist director from Germany to Hollywood after he saw his 1924 film The Last Laugh. This premiere collection includes two surviving works that Murnau made with Fox from 1927-1930 including the beautifully filmed, three-time Oscar winner Sunrise (1927) starring Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien and the country set, marital crisis City Girl (1930). Murnau's lost, and perhaps most famous work, 4 Devils (1928), is also paid tribute with a featurette and all-new book focused on the film as well as a look at the screenplay and more.   Also included is the rarely seen European silent alternate version of Sunrise, restored by the Nardoni Filmovy Archiv.

Frank Borzage's career at Fox lasted only seven years, but it would be the silent films he helmed at the studio that would come to define his career as he won the first Best Director Oscar for 7th Heaven and again in 1931 forBad Girl.   Ten of Borzage's surviving films are featured in the collection including the melodramatic love story 7th Heaven (1927), another triple-Oscar winner at the inaugural ceremony also starring Janet Gaynor.  Borzage would go on to collaborate with Gaynor two more times at Fox; as a spirited young woman who joins a traveling carnival in Street Angel (1928) and as a young farm girl who falls in love with a soldier during World War I in Lucky Star (1929).  Other featured Borzage works include Lazybones (1925), They Had To See Paris (1929), two versions of Song O' My Heart (1930), Liliom (1930), Bad Girl (1931), After Tomorrow (1932), Young America (1932) and a reconstruction of the lost film The River (1929).

Lastly, Murnau, Borzage & Fox (2008) is a feature length documentary by filmmaker John Cork examining the early history of Fox films and studio head William Fox and his patronage of German expressionist F.W. Murnau.  In turn, Murnau's cinematic styles would influence Fox's stable of directors including Frank Borzage, John Ford and Raoul Walsh.

A rich collection of true historical significance, MURNAU, BORZAGE & FOX will be available for a suggested retail price of $239.98 U.S. / $269.98 Canada.