#531: STERNBERG, Josef von: The Docks Of New York (1928)
3 SILENT CLASSICS BY JOSEF VON STERNBERG {Spine #528} OOP
Variety called the film "a corking program picture" and says the film misses greatness by a "whisker."
Commentary
None.
Two scores
STERNBERG, Josef von (United States)
The Docks Of New York [1928]
Spine #531
DVD
DVD
Roughneck stoker Bill Roberts (George Bancroft) gets into all sorts of trouble during a brief shore leave when he falls hard for Mae (Betty Compson), a wise and weary dance-hall girl, in Josef von Sternberg's evocative portrait of lower-class waterfront folk. Fog-enshrouded cinematography by Harold Rosson (The Wizard of Oz), expressionist set design by Hans Dreier (Sunset Boulevard), and sensual performances by Bancroft and Compson make this one of the legendary director's finest works, and one of the most exquisitely crafted films of the era.
75 minutes
Black & White
Black & White
Silent
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2010
Director/Writers
Suggested by The Dock Walloper by John Monk Saunders.
Story and screenplay by Jules Furthman.
Josef Von Sternberg was 34 when he directed The Docks of New York.
Other Von Sternberg films in the Collection:
#529: Underworld (1927)
#530: The Last Command (1928)
#931: Morocco (1930)
#932: Dishonored (1931)
#933: Shanghai Express (1932)
#934: Blonde Venus (1934)
#109/#930: The Scarlett Empress (1934)
#935: The Devil Is A Woman (1935)
The Film
Other Von Sternberg films in the Collection:
#529: Underworld (1927)
#530: The Last Command (1928)
#931: Morocco (1930)
#932: Dishonored (1931)
#933: Shanghai Express (1932)
#934: Blonde Venus (1934)
#109/#930: The Scarlett Empress (1934)
#935: The Devil Is A Woman (1935)
The Film
Variety called the film "a corking program picture" and says the film misses greatness by a "whisker."
Well, shave my beard!
**
1928 was the end of the silent era (the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, had been released the previous year), but look at this list of magnificent silents that were released that year:
- Keaton’s The Camerman {Spine #1033}
- Keaton’s Steamboat Bill
- Chaplin’s The Circus {Spine #996}
- Sjöström’s The Wind
- Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc {Spine #62}
- Lang’s Spies
- Dovzhenko’s Arsenal
- Eisenstein’s October
- L’Herbier’s L’argent
- Browning’s West of Zanzibar
- Borzage’s Street Angel
- Von Stroheim’s Queen Kelly
- Von Stroheim’s The Wedding March
- Vidor’s The Crowd
- Vidor’s Show People
- Epstein’s The Fall of the House of Usher
As Sante notes (below), this film — and most of the above-listed ones — are “convincing exhibits” for the auteur theory; certainly George Bancroft (Bill Roberts) and Betty Compson (Mae) are terrific — but how much credit should von Sternberg get for their performances?
Bancroft is gruff, dirty, muscular and mean-spirited — except when he isn’t; Compson is shy, sweet, smiling, demure — except when she isn’t — and a lot of it is due to an excellent screenplay and von Sternberg’s meticulous attention to detail.
It’s a fabulous film from a nearly forgotten time (the story is set several decades before ‘28)— an intertitle reminds us that
“these were the days before oil fuel made stoking a lady’s job”
and a reminder of the times (Prohibition):
“[the saloon] has vanished now — wiped out by commerce and reform.”
And the guy in knitted cap could be Willem Dafoe’s grandfather.
Film Rating (0-60):
The Booklet
56
The ExtrasThe Booklet
See Spine #528.
Sante:
“Everything that is really valuable about this film hinges on von Sternberg’s treatment: its deliberate pacing, its unostentatious but exquisite framing, its delicacy cloaked in apparent gruffness, its devil-may-care romanticism … for anyone still interested in arguing for the auteur theory, The Docks of New York is as convincing and concise an exhibit as any in existence. It exemplifies virtually every quality of von Sternberg’s films. It is theatrical, with complex but enclosed sets; it makes maximum use of lighting and atmospherics; it is nominally a melodrama but adds unexpected depth to a flimsy outline … it is possible to watch the whole picture without being exceptionally aware that it is silent. It is dated in nearly every particular, and yet it is somehow eternal.”
Israel:
“A common practice of the 1920s was to reinforce a scene with a popular song … for one sequence, I chose several classic American songs from the late nineteenth century, all of which are about broken hearts, lost souls, and love — “I Don’t Know Why I Love You, But I Do,” “She May Have Seen Better Days,” and “After the Ball” — to help substantiate the love developing between the two main characters and define the girl’s past.”
Sosin/Seaton:
“Joanne wrote lyrics for a new theme song to complement the film’s many references to luck and fate, which Donald then set in a jazzy twenties style for the opening titles. It returns at key points in different arrangements.”
None.
Two scores
One by Israel and another by Sosin and Seaton.
Swedish television
Swedish television
Interview from 1968 with director von Sternberg.
Kinda sad to watch him direct two little girls in an attempt to explain his lighting technique. At least he’s working.
Extras Rating (0-40):
Extras Rating (0-40):
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