Three Silent Classics By Josef Von Sternberg

Three mood-drenched silent dramas from one of Hollywood's most influential directors. Sternberg used light, shadow, and composition the way a painter uses colors on a canvas, often to stunning effect. Criterion has done a superlative job of restoration and the films' presentation here as they were originally envisioned by the director is perhaps more crucial for a true appreciation than it might be with any other major filmmaker. His genius was always in the realm of the visual, but the remarkable success of Underworld (1927) marked the beginning of the public's enthusiasm for gangster pictures that extended throughout much of the 1930s. Also included in this set is a story of personal redemption, the atmospheric Docks of New York, and the tragic Last Command (both released in 1928), with Emil Jannings as an exiled Russian nobleman reduced to playing bit parts in the movies. These three films are eloquent testimony to the fact that the underappreciated Sternberg was far more than a Henry Higgins to Marlene Dietrich's Eliza.