Customer Reviews

Docks of New York [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I can only echo what others have already said about this excellent silent movie made in 1928, when techniques and styles were well developed - only to be abruptly ended a year later when sound arrived. So for anyone a bit reluctant about silent films, or simply new to them, then "Docks of New York" is a great place to start. It is a simple yet touching story of true love in an unlikely setting: the rough dockyard neighbourhood with its drunken barroom brawls and 'ladies of the night'. It moves at a comfortable pace and takes in much visual detail, while building a certain suspense about what happens next, making this film a real pleasure to watch. Definitely worth having!

Throughout the years, being myself mostly a `30s-`50s classic-films buff, I've "learned" or have been able to watch, like and enjoy the Silents, and to recognise when a Silent Movie rises "above" the average (i.e.: "Sunrise"), and this grim, realistic Von Sternberg picture surely does!

Before Josef Von Sternberg created the bizarre, sumptuous and decadent world in which his "creation" (Marlene Dietrich) "breathed life", in many films between 1930-1935, he made some GREAT films, also at Paramount Pictures, during the late Silent Period, among them "Underworld", "The Last Command", "Thunderbolt" and this one I'm reviewing.

Here, macho-man George Bancroft (excellent) plays a very rough stoker who wants to spend his only day on land, having fun, drinking at bars, surrounded by women of "easy virtue", but then he meets Betty Compson (I won't tell any further details about tho movie's plot, in order to not "spoil things") and his life changes...

Strong performances by all the cast, especially Bancroft, Compson and alluring russian actress (Olga) Baclanova, better known for her nasty role in the 1932 Tod Browning horror masterpiece, "Freaks".

The film's scenery, art direction, the sets, the "mood" are EXCELLENT, truly depicting the life in these "Docks" of New York.

A great movie by all accounts.

You may never have heard of this silent film, but you will love it! A simple story is very well told with great acting, realistic atmosphere and great camera work. One of the best made films of the twenties!

Josef Von Sternberg was one of the great mis-en-scene directors of the silent/early talkie era. In 1929, at the close of the silent era, Paramount commissioned him to direct George Bancroft in the murky "Docks of New York". Frankly lost in audience's new love affair with "sound" movies, "Docks" is one of Sternberg's most visually successful films. Slow-moving and thoughtful, it's the story of grimy New York dock workers, and the on-and-off love affair of one couple. Laced with heavy cigarette smoke, the camera dollies in out of dingy bars and dark waterfronts. Several scenes are still considered near classic for their moody ambience(including Bancroft's rescue of a woman's near-suicide on the docks). Promoted to stardom by Sternberg, George Bancroft's career would slowly fade out after this picture. Ten years later, he was a supporting player in 1939's "Stagecoach". "Docks of New York" is not an exciting picture, but cinema lovers here can relish the magnificent visual powers of Sternberg in his prime, just before he entered his popular 6-picture series with Marlene Dietrich.

If you want to get into silent film, don't start with the unbearable Griffith movies. Start here with this unpretentious, entertaining classic from Von Sternberg. It's wonderful -- and you can buy it for about the price of a movie ticket.