Of course the comments you quote on Sunrise are nonsense. I'm not sure when French critics voted it the most beautiful film, but i recorded one French poll in 1958, which it topped, with La Regle du Jeu and Voyage to Italy 2nd and 3rd. Cahiers du Cinema, as you know, fervently supported directors like Renoir, Mizoguchi, Murnau, Rossellini, Hitchcock, Hawks, Vigo, and Nick Ray.

In a Positif poll in the early 90's (91?), the top 10 was;

1. La Regle du Jeu
2. Citizen Kane
3. 2001; A Space Odyssey
4. Vertigo
5. L'Atalante
6. 8 1/2
7. Sunrise
8. Barry Lyndon
9. The General
10. Sansho the Bailiff

In Sight and Sound polls each decade, Sunrise came 17th in 62, 18th in 72, 18th in 82, 19th in 92- pretty consistent eh? And 14th in John Kobal's poll of international critics in 87. So hardly a newly rediscovered film, as you say.

A few days back i was standing by a misty lake, a sight of stunning beauty (a distant light, tall rushes, ghostly white swans..) and Sunrise sprang to mind (as did Ugetsu Monogatari by Mizoguchi). Both films are supremely beautiful. Yet only a tiny percentage of the film-going public will have seen them.