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The Docks of New York

Director: Josef von Sternberg
Year: 1928
Run-time: 1 hr 16 min
Source: Youtube

Silent films were certainly on their way out in 1928, at least if you were an American studio director who's not Chaplin or Keaton, and this was one of those little gems that went largely unseen due to that transition.  It feels a bit like both a proto-noir and a proto-gangster film, but neither of those labels quite fit.  It's actually an effective, unconventional romance film, something that starts out cynical but ends up very sweet.

I enjoyed the film more than I thought I would, but with this entry in the list, I can't help but notice the big American studio system of the mid-century is falling into place, with Keaton now making films like The Cameraman for MGM (a studio which would ultimately ruin his career), and this film released by the newly renamed Paramount Pictures.  Along with it, the rough edges are getting smoothed down a little bit.  Certainly, the standards in cinematography, writing, and general pacing are pretty good and keep this film immediately relatable to an audience that isn't of the same social class as these characters.

But the days in which directors like von Stroheim and Griffiths could make the weird, expensive epics that they wanted to make, well, those are probably getting rarer.



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