{ "id": "epqgn4jknq", "slug": "the-docks-of-new-york", "title": "The Docks of New York", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent", "label": "Early and silent cinema", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012", "label": "Released 1927 to 2012", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent", "label": "Early and silent cinema", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features", "label": "Silent feature films", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Docks of New York (1928) is a Josef von Sternberg silent drama for Paramount, written by Jules Furthman from John Monk Saunders's \"The Dock Walloper\", starring George Bancroft and Betty Compson; a stoker rescues a suicidal woman on shore leave. Overshadowed by talkies, later honored in the National Film Registry.", "snippet": "The Docks of New York (1928) is a Josef von Sternberg silent drama for Paramount, written by Jules Furthman from John Monk Saunders's \"The Dock Walloper\", starring George Bancroft and Betty Compson; a stoker rescues a suicidal woman on shore leave. Overshadowed by talkies, later honored in the National Film Registry.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.early-silent.silent-features.yr-1927-2012", "markdown": "# The Docks of New York\n\n**The Docks of New York** is a 1928 American silent drama directed by [Josef von Sternberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/josef-von-sternberg), in which a ship's stoker (crewman who shovels coal into a ship's furnace) on overnight shore leave rescues a woman from a suicide attempt and, in a single night on the New York waterfront, falls in love with her. It was produced by Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, photographed by Harold Rosson, and written by Jules Furthman from John Monk Saunders's short story \"The Dock Walloper\".[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html) Released at the very end of the silent era, it was overshadowed on arrival by the advent of talking pictures, but it has since come to be regarded in some quarters as von Sternberg's best film.[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | Premiered in New York on September 16, 1928; general release September 29, 1928[4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html) |\n| Director / writer | Josef von Sternberg; story and screenplay by Jules Furthman, suggested by John Monk Saunders's \"The Dock Walloper\"[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york) |\n| Key crew | Cinematography Harold Rosson; production design Hans Dreier; editing Helen Lewis; intertitles Julian Johnson[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html) |\n| Principal cast | George Bancroft (Bill Roberts, the stoker), Betty Compson (Mae), Olga Baclanova (Lou), Mitchell Lewis (Andy, the third engineer), Clyde Cook (\"Sugar\" Steve), Gustav von Seyffertitz (\"Hymn-Book\" Harry)[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html) |\n| Format | Silent, black and white, 1.33:1, about 75–76 minutes (eight reels, 7,202 feet)[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york) • [2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html) |\n| Setting | The New York waterfront around 1900, built entirely on Hollywood sets[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront) • [4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html) |\n| Survival | A print exists in the George Eastman Museum archive; the film is in the public domain in the USA[2](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\n[Bill Roberts](https://www.edgepedia.org/bill-roberts) ([George Bancroft](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-bancroft-actor)), a stoker on a merchant ship, is headed for his favorite waterfront saloon on overnight shore leave when he sees Mae (Betty Compson) jump into the water in a suicide attempt. He pulls her out and, to raise her spirits, offers to marry her; a farcical ceremony is performed in the saloon by the solemn \"Hymn-Book\" Harry (Gustav von Seyffertitz).[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront)\n\nThe night entangles the pair with the people around them. Mae's best friend Lou (Olga Baclanova) is married to Andy (Mitchell Lewis), the ship's third engineer and Bill's superior, who has effectively abandoned her and spends the evening pursuing Mae until Bill knocks him down. In the morning, after Bill leaves Mae's room to return to his ship, Andy tells him he has lost his job; Lou then sees Andy entering Mae's room, gunshots follow, and an arrest is made. Bill, who has reconsidered and dived off his ship to swim back to shore, comes to realize that he loves Mae.[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront) • [4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html)\n\n## Production\n\nThe film was made at Paramount during von Sternberg's 1927–1935 stay at the studio, in the same year as *The Last Command* and *The Drag Net*. Von Sternberg had already been lauded for *[Underworld](https://www.edgepedia.org/underworld-1927-film)* (1927), considered the first gangster film, and *The Last Command* (1928), which won [Emil Jannings](https://www.edgepedia.org/emil-jannings) the first [Academy Award for Best Actor](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-actor).[4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html) • [5](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/josef-von-sternberg)\n\nAlthough the story is set on the New York waterfront, the film was created entirely on a movie set in Hollywood. Von Sternberg and Rosson traveled to New York to gather design ideas, and the resulting settings range from a grimy stoke-hold to the foggy alleys of the port.[4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html) The production design was by the German-born art director Hans Dreier, a former UFA designer who brought expressionist spatial exaggeration and chiaroscuro to Hollywood and worked on more than five hundred films between 1919 and 1951.[1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york)\n\n## Visual style\n\n**Light and atmosphere** carry the film. Harold Rosson's camera work turns away from realism: shafts of light are filled with smoke, faces come out of almost complete darkness, and the Sandbar saloon is designed not to look real but to register as a psychological threshold.[4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html) • [6](https://film.briefs.cloud/the-docks-of-new-york/) Fog or smoke appears in many scenes, and the critic Lucy Sante, writing in the Criterion Collection's essay series, observes that almost any frame could stand on its own as a composition.[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront) • [7](https://silentfilm.org/the-docks-of-new-york/)\n\nThe film is also noted for its technique of narration. Sante, citing the critic Andrew Sarris, records that its slow dissolves serve \"to indicate the meaninglessness of time intervals between moral decisions\", and describes it as primarily a moving-camera showcase. She points to the sequence showing that Lou has shot Andy, in which no sign is more overt than two puffs of smoke, and to the blurred subjective-camera shot of the needle Mae tries to thread through her tears.[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film's timing worked against it. It was previewed the same week as [Al Jolson](https://www.edgepedia.org/al-jolson)'s *The Singing Fool*, the follow-up to *The Jazz Singer* and the highest-grossing film of the year, and was completely passed over in the clamor surrounding talking pictures. *The New York Times* did not mention it until two years later, and then through its Paris correspondent, when it and von Sternberg's *Underworld* were popular in France; it never became a hit in the United States.[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront) The German museum database LeMO records it as von Sternberg's most impressive silent film, whose success was nonetheless diminished by the arrival of sound.[5](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/josef-von-sternberg)\n\nSante judges that in its time it was the least successful of the four von Sternberg silents that survive, and also the most personal; over the years it became famous by accumulated rumor and came to be considered his best film in some quarters.[3](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront) Eddie Muller, writing for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, calls it the first film in which von Sternberg's pictorial genius was fully realized, and notes that the 34-year-old director learned to downplay the egotistical artist routine and draw the best from his cast and crew.[7](https://silentfilm.org/the-docks-of-new-york/)\n\nThe film has since been listed in the U.S. [National Film Registry](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-registry), and it circulates on home video and streaming, including the Criterion Collection's Blu-ray box set *3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg* (Spine #531) and free streaming platforms.[4](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html) • [1](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york) • [8](https://tubitv.com/movies/100062383/the-docks-of-new-york)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Docks of New York, The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/1942-the-docks-of-new-york)\n2. [The Docks of New York (1928), Silent Era: Progressive Silent Film List](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/D/DocksOfNewYork1928.html)\n3. [Lucy Sante, \"The Docks of New York: On the Waterfront\", The Criterion Collection (August 24, 2010)](https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1570-the-docks-of-new-york-on-the-waterfront)\n4. [Brad Weismann, \"NFR Project: 'The Docks of New York' (1928)\", The Film Patrol (June 25, 2024)](https://www.filmpatrol.com/2024/06/nfr-project-docks-of-new-york-1928.html)\n5. [Josef von Sternberg 1894–1969, LeMO Biografie, Deutsches Historisches Museum](https://www.dhm.de/lemo/biografie/josef-von-sternberg)\n6. [The Docks of New York, Film Briefs](https://film.briefs.cloud/the-docks-of-new-york/)\n7. [Eddie Muller, \"The Docks of New York\", San Francisco Silent Film Festival](https://silentfilm.org/the-docks-of-new-york/)\n8. [Watch The Docks of New York (1928), Tubi](https://tubitv.com/movies/100062383/the-docks-of-new-york)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Early and silent cinema › Silent feature films › Released 1927 to 2012*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Docks of New York\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Docks of New York](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Docks of New York\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-docks-of-new-york. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Docks of New York is a Josef von Sternberg silent drama for Paramount, written by Jules Furthman from John Monk Saunders's \"The Dock Walloper\", starring George Bancroft and Betty Compson; a stoker rescues a suicidal woman on shore leave." }