The Docks of New York

Josef von Sternberg's moody, atmospheric romance set on the fog-bound waterfronts of New York — a film of such visual beauty that it nearly transcends its pulp-fiction plot. George Bancroft plays a rough stoker on shore leave who rescues a suicidal woman (Betty Compson, heartbreaking) from the harbor, impulsively marries her in a drunken night, and must decide by morning whether to honor the commitment or slip back to sea. Von Sternberg drenches every frame in harbor mist, lamplight, and shadow, creating a world where the line between tenderness and cruelty is as blurred as the waterfront at night. The film's emotional restraint — these are inarticulate people who express feeling through gesture and silence — gives it a power that more conventionally dramatic films can't match. A quiet masterpiece of late silent cinema.