The Docks of New York (1928)

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writers:

Jules Furthman (writer)
John Monk Saunders (story)

Release Date:

29 September 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Plot:

A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.

Plot Keywords:

Suicide Attempt | Gangster | Waterfront

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

George Bancroft	...	Bill Roberts
Betty Compson	...	Mae
Olga Baclanova	...	Lou
Clyde Cook	...	'Sugar' Steve
Mitchell Lewis	...	Andy, the Third Engineer
Gustav von Seyffertitz	...	Hymn Book Harry
Guy Oliver	...	The Crimp
May Foster	...	Mrs. Crimp
Lillian Worth	...	Steve's Girl

Runtime:

Argentina:76 min | USA:76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Quotes:

Lou: Until I got married, I was decent.

A masterpiece

Of course, no waterfront in the world was ever as deliciously seedy as set designer Hans Dreier's in this amazingly atmospheric and evocative masterpiece of late silent cinema. The story is rather tawdry, cheapish even, but plots are very rarely the point of a movie anyway, and Josef von Sternberg has made the perfect film out of next to nothing.

'The Docks of New York' is about a rough and ready stoker, Bill (George Bancroft), on leave for the night. He goes to the Sandbar and gets into a brawl with Hymn-Book Harry (the ever sleazy Gustav von Seyffertitz), and on the way back saves a young girl, Mae the tough kookie (Betty Compson) from drowning herself. Slowly they sorta kinda fall in love and he marries her on the spur of the moment, but what will they do the next morning when Bill is supposed to sail off again? The most astonishing thing about 'The Docks of New York' is its subtlety. We have no heroes or simplified villains here, just people who have had a hard time all their lives and are reluctant to be redeemed. The concept of love in this sneering, loud-mouthed environment is completely alien. "I hope you have better luck than me", says Olga Baclanova's character to Mae on her way to the slammer, "but I doubt it". It is Baclanova who says on the subject of decency that she was decent "before I got married".

It goes without saying that the film is acted as naturalistically as anything we see today, that Compson & Bancroft absolutely shine as the unlikely lovers, grittily played and with no sentimentality. The lighting is superb, photography stupendous, direction acute, and the edition you are most likely to see looks fabulous.