Criterion Collection: 3 Silent Classics Sternberg [DVD] [1905] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

On August 24, Criterion releases the brand-new Josef von Sternberg Silent-Classic Collection, a 3-Disc set. Fully restored, two films were available in the past(both in 1987) on VHS tape, and the third, "Underworld", has likely never been seen by almost anyone, except private collectors, since 1927. Vienna-born, New Jersey- raised Josef von Sternberg directed some of the most influential, stylish dramas to come out of Hollywood. Best known for his collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, von Sternberg began his career during the final years of the silent era. First up is "Underworld", the movie responsible for starting the gangster-film cycle. At the Academy Awards in May, 1929, the film received an Oscar for writer Ben Hecht, who soon would be at work on "Scarface". "Underworld" achieved fame overnight, earning success in public screenings at the New York Paramount, and soon an all-night schedule was improvised to accommodate the unexpected crowds. "Underworld" opens with title cards telling of a "great city in dead of night..streets lonely...moon clouded..empty buildings of a forgotten age". Sudenly an explosion shatters a bank building. Crime leader Bull Weed(George Bancroft) emerges carrying loot. He spots a derelict(Clive Brook) nearby, in an inebriated state. Weed throws him in his car and speeds off. Weed takes a liking to his new friend, known as "Rolls Royce", who, when sober, becomes his stooge, friend, and driver. We also meet Feathers McCoy(Evelyn Brent), Weeds'gal. A violent gun-battle ends the show; a famous scene that scored with jazz-era audiences. Sternberg's underworld is a hell of false illusions. Though rich in mis-en-scene, "Underworld" is sadly dated and slow; Bancroft's learing ganster fails to carry the film. Next up is the real jewel of the bunch. In "The Last Command", Emil Jannings is passionate and heartbreaking as an exiled Russian military officer. "The Last Command" was based on the true story of Duke Alexander, who arrives penniless in the US after the 1917 Russian Revolution. He supports himself by playing movie bit parts. In Russia, the Duke had mistress Natacha(Evelyn Brent), who once thought of killing the Duke. Natacha is dispatched by the Bolsheviks, and her loss throws the Duke into dispair. Now the Duke is a Hollywood extra, performing for the director(a young William Powell). In a surreal final sequence, the Duke and director share a sense of futility; they recognise the correct positioning of the medal on the general's costume at the same time. Jennings is powerfully tragic. The late Preson Sturges called this film the only perfect movie he had ever seen. Finally, there is 1928's "Docks of New York". Geroge Bancroft plays a two-fisted ship's stoker. In a famous scene, he rescues Betty Comson from suicide. Bancroft marries her, but sobers up later, and decides to set-sail on the open sea...perhaps forever. The story is secondary to von Sternberg's careful camerawork and direction. Bancroft's career would fade with the gangster-film-cycle, and by 1939, he was playing a small part as the sheriff with John Wayne in "Stagecoach". This Criterion release is a three-DVD set, with new, restored digital transfers, a 1968 TV interview, essays by Geoffrey O'Brien, the film treatment by Hecht, and parts of von Sternberg's autobiography. Von Sternberg would shoot two more films for Paramount, and then, in 1930, his career would escalate again, with an ironic tragedy about "Naught Lola". It was called "The Blue Angel".

I've been waiting for years for Paramount to do something with these titles. I have "Docks of New York" and "The Last Command" on VHS from years ago - I think it was Paramount's 75th anniversary edition. It's Underworld that has never been available on any format and that I saw only once on PBS years ago. Yet it too made quite an impression.

The Last Command is a rare chance to see Emil Jannings and is a compelling tale involving the Russian Revolution, winning Jannings the first Academy Award for Best Actor. Docks of New York is an early precode starring Betty Compson, a truly overworked actress during the early talking film period, in a rare surviving silent work of hers. Finally there is Underworld. If you've only seen Clive Brooks play rather stuffy aristocratic parts I think you'll find this a revelation. Here he plays Rolls Royce, a bum turned respectable by a gangster who then goes into competition with the gangster for his girl, played by Evelyn Brent. All three have great photography and - as first class late silent films - make me quite sad that the silent film era had to end. The following is the scoop on the extra features:

Six scores: one by Robert Israel for each film; two by the Alloy Orchestra, for Underworld and The Last Command; and a piano and voice piece by Donald Sosin for The Docks of New York
Two new visual essays: one by UCLA film professor Janet Bergstrom and the other by film scholar Tag Gallagher
1968 Swedish television interview with director Josef von Sternberg, covering his entire career
PLUS: A ninety-six-page booklet featuring essays by film critic Geoffrey O'Brien, film scholar Anton Kaes, and author Luc Sante; the original film treatment for Underworld by Ben Hecht; and an excerpt from Sternberg's autobiography, Fun in a Chinese Laundry, on Emil Jannings

Criterion's announcment that they will be releasing a package of three of Josef Von Sternberg's silent masterpieces is one of the greatest pieces of news to come out of the home video front in some time. And if Criterion does their usual impeccable job in regard to transfers and supplements, then the results should be satisfactory to everyone. Speaking as one who has lived with Paramount's old VHS versions of DOCKS OF NEW YORK and THE LAST COMMAND for over twenty years now, it will be very interesting to see the films with music other than the Gaylord Carter organ scores that were attached to those releases; one hopes that the new scores that Criterion has commissioned for this release are at least as good as the ones Carter did (especially in regard to DOCKS). In any case, the films themselves are visually superb, and among the finest examples (along with William Wellman's still unavailible on DVD WINGS and the equally elusive THE WEDDING MARCH directed by Erich Von Strohiem) of silent film artistry in the late 1920's. These films are elegant and eloquent without any talk; indeed, any talk in them would have destroyed the beautifully evocative moods that Von Sternberg creates. This set should be a must for anyone who loves film, and I cannot wait to get my copy.