5 - BETTY COMPSON AND GEORGE BANCROFT

BETTY COMPSON AND GEORGE BANCROFT During the filming of Josef von Sternberg’s movie “The Docks of New York” (Les Damnés de l’océan), 1928. 2 photos, period silver gelatin prints, unmarked on the back. 25.7 x 20.5 cm each, including white borders. Cuts along one edge. Note: George Bancroft plays Bill Roberts, a stoker aboard a ship, who takes advantage of a brief stopover in New York Harbor. He saves Mae, a disillusioned young woman played by Betty Compson, from drowning, then impulsively marries her during a night spent in the dockside cabarets. Behind this romantic plot, Josef von Sternberg crafts a stylized portrait of the working-class harbor world, amid fog, smoke, working-class bars, and expressionist lighting. The cinematography is by Harold Rosson, and the set design is by Hans Dreier. Made at the end of the silent film era, the film is now considered one of the major works of that period and foreshadows some of the visual motifs that Sternberg would later develop with Marlene Dietrich.