The Docks of New York

Yö satamassa / En natt i hamn. USA © 1928 Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. Assoc. P: J.G. Bachmann D: Josef von Sternberg. Adaptation: Jules Furthman – from the story by John Monk Saunders – titles: Julian Johnson. DP: Harold Rosson. AD: Hans Dreier. ED: Helen Lewis. CAST: George Bancroft (Bill Roberts), Betty Compson (Sadie), Baclanova (Lou), Clyde Cook (Sugar Steve), Mitchell Lewis (third engineer), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Hymn Book Harry), Guy Oliver (The Crimp), Lillian Worth (Steven tyttö). 2195 m /20 fps/ 96 min. Print: UCLA. Viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 22 Sep 2009. - Revisited a Sternberg masterpiece, the first 30 min. - The definition of light in this portion is beautiful, but I heard from Arto Merimaa that the definition of the rest is uneven, based on the status of the source materials. - 20 fps seems the right speed. - Great poetic montages in the beginning: the harbour of New York - hard work in the ship's boiler room - commotion at The Sandbar - Sadie's suicide attempt and her revival. - Already this part of the film is full with connections to Sternberg's other films. - The group of ragged men dreaming of women in the boiler room: qf. Anatahan. - The commotion at the cheap harbour saloon where beer and cigarettes are consumed: qf. Der Blaue Engel. - The sympathy for the outcasts: qf. The Salvation Hunters. - A visually brilliant movie of "the derelicts of the world". - And yes, there is the fog, the smoke, and the nets.

A Gentleman of Paris

Herrasmies Pariisissa. US 1927. D: Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast. Story: dal racconto Bellamy the Magnificent di Roy Horniman; SC: Benjamin Glazer, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Chandler Sprague; DP: Harold Rosson; CAST: Adolphe Menjou (Marchese de Marignan), Shirley O’Hara (Jacqueline), Arlette Marchal (Yvonne Dufour), Ivy Harris (Henriette), Nicholas Soussanin (Joseph Talineau), Lawrence Grant (Generale Baron de Latour), William B. Davidson (Henri Dufour), Lorraine MacLean (ragazza del guardaroba); P: Jesse L. Lasky, Adolph Zukor per Paramount Famous Lasky; 35mm. 65’ From: LoC per concessione di Paramount. - Earphone commentary in Italian, grand piano: Antonio Coppola, viewed at Cinema Lumière 1, Bologna, 29 June 2009. - A print with several marks of nitrate decomposition in the source. - A brilliant sophisticated drama in the Ernst Lubitsch style, but in a somewhat darker mode. - The wealthy ladies' man, Marquis de Marignan, has one affair too many: with the wife of his endlessly resourceful servant Joseph Talineau. Joseph sets a trap for the famous gambler by putting to his sleeve a hidden card, which is later fatally exposed. - A fine sense of satire. - Unlike Lubitsch and Chaplin, d'Arrast portrays a world in which he belongs. - A fine sense of the visual: the scene where a woman hidden in de Marignan's apartment is revealed gradually via the leg, the hand, and the hair. - Menjou gives an account of the incident to Joseph via a pantomime, which is worthy of Chaplin.