The Docks of New York
A blue-collar worker on New York's depressed waterfront finds his life changed after he saves a woman attempting suicide.
From the archive
Roughneck stoker Bill Roberts (George Bancroft) gets into all sorts of trouble during a brief shore leave when he falls hard for Mae (Betty Compson), a wise and weary dance-hall girl, in Josef von Sternberg’s evocative portrait of working-class waterfront folk. Fog-enshrouded cinematography by Harold Rosson (The Wizard of Oz), expressionist set design by Hans Dreier (Sunset Boulevard), and sensual performances by Bancroft and Compson make this one of the legendary director’s finest works, and one of the most exquisitely crafted films of the era.
Why this is free to watch
The Docks of New York (1928) is hosted by the Internet Archive as a public-domain or openly licensed work, which means its copyright has expired, lapsed, or was released by the rights holder. No signup, no payment and no advertising interrupts playback. Nitrate streams the file directly from the Archive and hosts no video itself.
- Director
- Josef von Sternberg
- Starring
- George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook, Mitchell Lewis, Guy Oliver, May Foster, Lillian Worth
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