The Docks of New York
About The Docks of New York
Stoker Bill Roberts (George Bancroft) pulls Mae (Betty Compson) out of the harbor after she jumps from a dock. He carries her to a room over The Sandbar. Lou (Olga Baclanova) brings her around. Bill steals a dress for her, and in the bar he agrees to marry her. "Hymn Book" Harry (Gustav von Seyffertitz) says the vows, and Lou gives Mae a ring. In the morning Bill leaves. Third engineer Andy (Mitchell Lewis) tries to force himself on Mae, and Lou shoots him, then confesses when the police blame Mae. Back on the ship Bill jumps overboard. In night court Mae is sentenced for stealing his clothes. He takes the blame, draws sixty days, and she says she will wait.
Cast & crew
More about The Docks of New York
Josef von Sternberg directed. Jules Furthman adapted John Monk Saunders's story The Dock Walloper. Julian Johnson wrote the titles. J. G. Bachmann was associate producer. Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky presented it. Helen Lewis edited. Paramount Pictures distributed it. Motion Picture News announced the film on 5 May 1928. Sternberg and Furthman went to New York to look at the waterfront before shooting. Principal photography began 10 July 1928 at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, on sets standing in for the docks. It opened at the Paramount Theatre in New York on 16 September 1928 and went into general release on 29 September.
Themes
Background
The ship is a tramp steamer tying up in New York before Prohibition. The bar and the night court belong to that earlier waterfront.
Making
Art director Hans Dreier, who had come from UFA, built the Sandbar saloon set.
Reviews
Variety called it "a corking program picture," a whisker short of greatness, and praised Bancroft, Sternberg's direction, Harold Rosson's photography, and Julian Johnson's titles.
Look
Harold Rosson photographed the dock sets and the bar. Variety called the photography exquisite. A later note by Andrew Sarris describes one shot in which Mae's needle goes soft as she tries to thread it through tears.
Preservation
Silent Era lists a 16mm reduction positive at the George Eastman Museum. The film is in the public domain in the United States.
Notes
- Clyde Cook plays Bill's sidekick "Sugar" Steve. Lillian Worth plays Steve's girl. Guy Oliver is The Crimp. May Foster is Mrs. Crimp.
- The first week at the Paramount Theatre took in $88,000, more than Sternberg's Underworld had done there in 1927.
- The negative is eight reels, 7,202 feet.
- George Irving was announced as the night-court judge and is not in every review cast list.
- Variety's review ran 19 September 1928.
Scenes
- Bill carries Mae up from the water into the room over The Sandbar.
- Hymn Book Harry marries them while the bar watches, and Lou hands over her ring.
- Bill jumps from the steamer and takes Mae's sixty days in night court.
Influenced by
- John Monk Saunders's story The Dock Walloper
Also available
- Internet Archive (the-docks-of-new-york)
- George Eastman Museum (16mm reduction positive)
