7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Bill Roberts, a stoker on a tramp steamer, comes ashore for eight hours' leave and finds himself embroiled in the hectic life of Sadie, a bitter waterfront tramp looking to change her life.
Starring: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga BaclanovaDrama | 100% |
Romance | 47% |
Film-Noir | 27% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Music: LPCM 2.0
Music: LPCM 2.0
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This film is available as part of 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg.
Whether fairly or unfairly, Josef von Sternberg is probably best remembered for his collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, and in fact Criterion itself
has
celebrated that partnership with their excellent release
Dietrich & von Sternberg in
Hollywood. That very partnership may have led some film fans to assume that von Sternberg, like Dietrich, was a German emigré, but as
one of the supplements on the set currently under discussion gets into, von Sternberg was actually born Jonas Sternberg in Vienna, moving to the
United States with his family when he was still a tot. The “Josef”, and, later, the “von”, were added at later dates, perhaps in an attempt by either
(von) Sternberg himself or those wanting to help his career to make him seem more “exotic” somehow (there’s some indication that the “von”
addition
may have been inspired by Erich von Stroheim). This same supplement details von Sternberg’s early career in the film industry, which included
everything from being a “go fer” to editing before von Sternberg finally kind of almost stumbled into a directing career with his self funded The
Salvation Hunters, which this supplement goes on to describe as one of the first supposedly mainstream “Art Films”. Von Sternberg had a
kind of
rocky first few years as a supposed wunderkind, with a proposed film starring Mary Pickford and then another evidently completed film
done
for Charlie Chaplin never really seeing the light of day (the supplement makes a passing case that the Chaplin film may be lying around in
someone’s
vault somewhere and that a hunt for it should be undertaken). Those stumbling blocks may have played into the decision by Paramount's
legendary B.P. Schulberg to offer von Sternberg a job not as a director (at least initially), but as more of a jack of all trades assigned to
clean up various productions which the studio deemed were in trouble for one reason or another. Von Stroheim's success with regard to Children of Divorce in particular finally gave him the opportunity to start
directing for Paramount, and the films in this set are among his early silents for the studio.
All of the presentations included in 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg are presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in 1.33:1. The expansive insert booklet included in this set lumps all three together in their informational page devoted to the transfers, with the following verbiage:
All three films are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. These high definition digital transfers were created on a Spirit HD DataCine, with density correction done on a da Vinci 2K. Underworld's transfer was created from a 35 mm fine grain positive, The Last Command's from a 35 mm duplicate negative, and The Docks of New York's from a 35 mm fine grain master positive. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for flicker and small dirt.Like all three films in this set, The Docks of New York can show pretty significant damage at times, with scratches and nicks perhaps being more exacerbated in this presentation due to the prevalence of effects like fog and mist. Perusing some of the screenshots accompanying this review can give at least some idea of the damage on display. Interestingly, though, some of the interior scenes in this presentation are among the best looking in the entire three film set, despite continued damage. Clarity is rather good in many of these scenes, with abundant detail levels and some really appealing contrast that highlights both gray scale and blacks. That said, there are variances in densities and (somewhat less noticeable) contrast that can affect both overall detail levels and the gradations between blacks, grays and whites. Grain resolves naturally throughout the presentation.
All three films included in this set feature two different musical soundtracks delivered via LPCM 2.0 tracks. All three films feature scores by the reliable Robert Israel, with two of the three, Underworld and The Last Command , also featuring a score by the Alloy Orchestra, and the third, The Docks of New York, also featuring a score by Donald Sosin. As mentioned in the Supplements section of the overarching 3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg Blu-ray review, there are some interesting comments by the composers included in the insert booklet which may be of some interest to fans. The Israel scores are inventive orchestral pieces, often quite boisterous. The Alloy Orchestra scores are a bit more experimental in nature, but are often surprisingly similar to Israel's in terms of orchestration and even general musical ideas presented. The Sosin score is more of a piano based work and also features a vocal by Joanna Seaton. Fidelity is fine and problem free throughout all scores, with a nicely burnished tone in the orchestral offerings and a slightly bright but never really brittle ambience to the piano based score. I noticed no issues whatsoever with regard to distortion, dropouts or other damage.
The Docks of New York is a fascinating exercise in what I called almost a socioeconomic critique disguised as a love story. Bancroft and Compson are intriguing as the focal couple, and this film is awash (in more ways than one) in style. Video has fairly recurrent hurdles, but audio is great, and the supplement very interesting. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
1927
Includes Elia Kazan: Outsider 1982 Documentary
1954
1928
2010
1986
Le quai des brumes
1938
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1950
Warner Archive Collection
1951
1969
1972
Tagebuch einer Verlorenen
1929
Víctimas del pecado
1951
1948
2009
2014
1945
1945
Warner Archive Collection / Includes German-Language Alternate Version
1930
1988
1964