Docks of New York

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Audience Member Later von Sternberg films are visually more elaborate, exquisite, but his mania for the perfect magical image jells his characters into mannequins, and his plots can be really stupid. In this early film the characters really breathe, grunt, suffer, shine… it's a David Goodis story of low-lifes struggling for salvation, made long before Goodis explored that world in his novels. I was knocked out. You really gotta see this thing. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review William L With romance films, particularly older ones, it's a tightrope walk between classic and superficial. Many people consider the narrative of The Docks of New York to be a masterpiece in storytelling, in which two unrefined citizens of a hardscrabble city find each other at low moments and bring out the best in one another, including a touching sacrifice at the conclusion of the runtime that demonstrates their commitment. To me, it all leans more toward the melodramatic than much else, but it uses exceptionally well designed camerawork, where visual cues tie directly into the story rather than simply conveying the base content of the script. Viewed in the modern day, after love stories have been forced to explore so many different avenues of putting two people together, a narrative this bare bones just seems somewhat rough-edged. Some may still call it among the great love stories of the silent era, but to me it lacks that timeless element that some of its contemporaries clearly have (a feature that is exceptionally difficult to maintain when a film is forced to present itself without an entire dimension that has been standard for nearly a century: sound). (3.5/5) Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/30/21 Full Review s r 1001 movies to see before you die. This was compelling despite its simple plot. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A visually sumptuous film about a depressed dock worker in New York who accidentally stumbles across a young woman trying to commit suicide. They quickly bond in their loneliness & their worlds are filling with bizarre & exotic people. The atmosphere & presence in the film is top notch & just draws you into this smokey, wharf world. Despite their good intentions their relationship is doomed & you just watch in unravel. A fantastic film score with unforgettable visuals. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Even the indecents can have happy endings, is the moral of this beautiful film about ugly souls. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Vividly realized silent tale of a stoker who comes ashore to find drunken fun and winds up rescuing a girl from drowning and marrying her. One of von Sternberg's late silent films (before he hooked up with Marlene Dietrich), showing his interest in "painting with light" - there is smoke or fog in many of the scenes. George Bancroft is compellingly lout-like but ultimately sympathetic as he overcomes his primitive male instincts to sacrifice himself for his "wife". Betty Compson has less to do and looks rather ambivalent about Bancroft but throws her lot in with him anyway; such may have been the fate of a good-time gal in the 1920's - no other options. Unlike other silent films of this period, von Sternberg doesn't take things truly wide, trying to stun us with amazing set-pieces (a la Murnau), so I was a bit disappointed. But keeping the drama small and focusing on the characterizations may be the strategy that led to his later success with Marlene - it was all about her and everything else was stripped away (or really everything else, indulgent as it became, glorified her). Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Docks of New York

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