3 Silent Classics by Josef von Sternberg [Criterion Collection] [3 Discs] [DVD]

Though born in Vienna, Josef von Sternberg moved to New York City in mid-adolescence. He established a career for himself as one of the greatest of all film directors in his late 20s, dividing his time between Hollywood (The Last Command), Germany (Der Blaue Engel) and England (the unfinished I, Claudius). von Sternberg gained broadest acclaim and historical recognition for the many outstanding films he crafted with siren Marlene Dietrich, though equally marvelous are his early Hollywood silents. This set from the venerable Criterion Collection contains three of those features: Underworld (1927), starring George Bancroft - regarded as the first outstanding gangster film; The Last Command (1928), starring Emil Jannings in a dramatic recreation of the Russian Revolution; and {#The Docks of New York (1928), with George Bancroft as a ship stoker who saves a young woman from suicide, marries her, and then grows to love her. The set comes accompanied by a wealth of bonus features including visual essays by Janet Bergstrom and Tag Gallagher; a 1968 Swedish television interview with von Sternberg ; an excerpt from von Sternberg's autobiography on working with Emil Jannings; and much more.