88% (2) The Docks of New York 76 min, [Crime, Drama, Film-Noir, Romance] [Josef von Sternberg] [29 Sep 1928]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 77%, Rotten Tomatoes: 100%, External Reviews
Awards: 2 wins.
Actors: Betty Compson, Clyde Cook, George Bancroft, Olga Baclanova
Writer: Jules Furthman (story and screenplay), John Monk Saunders (suggested by "The Dock Walloper" by), Julian Johnson (titles)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Bill Roberts works as a stoker on a coal-red barge. It's dirty, hard work and the men have to put up with a foreman, Andy, who seems to enjoy making their life miserable. When finally off the ship, Bill sees a young woman struggling in the water - apparently trying to commit suicide. He takes her to the Sandbar saloon, the sailors' hangout. The girl is Mae and Bill takes a shine to her but so does Andy. One thing leads to another and Bill asks her to marry him then and there. They don't have a marriage ;licence however and despite Bill promising to get one first thing the morning he decides to leave her behind. When she gets into trouble however, Bill steps in.
Rotten Tomatoes: The smokily erotic ambience of Josef Von Sternberg's silent Docks of New York is best appreciated on a big theatrical screen--but only if the available print is at the very least second-generation. George Bancroft plays a two-fisted ship's stoker on shore leave. He saves Betty Compson from committing suicide; though the girl displays little gratitude, the inebriated Bancroft impulsively marries her. After he sobers up, Bancroft is prepared to set sail and leave his new wife waiting for him...perhaps forever. The story is secondary to the virtuosity of the direction and camerawork (one scene is framed in the eye of a needle!) Considered by many to be Von Sternberg's greatest film, Docks of New York is a prime example of the silent cinema at its zenith.
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64% (2) The Great Gabbo 92 min, PASSED, [Drama, Musical, Romance] [James Cruze, Erich von Stroheim] [12 Sep 1929]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 62%, Rotten Tomatoes: 67%, External Reviews
Actors: Betty Compson, Donald Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Marjorie Kane
Writer: Ben Hecht (story "The Rival Dummy"), Hugh Herbert (continuity), Hugh Herbert (dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: German, English Country: USA
Plot: An insanely, egocentric ventriloquist, even though he is possessed by his wooden dummy, is in love with a dancer who is in love with another. The dummy gives advice to the ventriloquist.
Rotten Tomatoes: In this film, a ventriloquist who calls himself the Great Gabbo begins to lose his sense of identity when his only means of expression is through his wooden dummy. As the Great Gabbo begins to rely more and more on his dummy, he begins to go mad.
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86% (1) The Big City 70 min, [Crime, Drama] [Tod Browning] [24 Mar 1928]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 86%, External Reviews
Actors: Betty Compson, James Murray, Lon Chaney, Marceline Day
Writer: Tod Browning (story), Waldemar Young (scenario), Joseph Farnham (titles)
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: N/A Country: USA
Plot: Rivalry between two gangs of thieves. The sympathetic group reforms: the others are brought to justice.
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72% (1) Street Girl 87 min, PASSED, [Drama, Musical, Romance] [Wesley Ruggles] [21 Aug 1929]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Actors: Betty Compson, Jack Oakie, John Harron, Ned Sparks
Writer: Jane Murfin (screen play), W. Carey Wonderly (from the story by: "The Viennese Charmer" in Young's Magazine)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Jobless, homeless and starving Freddie Joyzelle is saved by Mike Fall from the clutches of a masher, and is then invited to stay with him and his musician partners for at least two weeks. The four men call themselves The Four Seasons because of their surnames: there is also Joe Spring, Happy Winter and Pete Summer. Besides joining their group as a violinist, Freddie cooks and cleans for them and even gets them a gig at the Little Aregon restaurant after they are fired for asking for a raise at their old job. She is from the country of Aregon and knows the owner, Mr. Keppel, also from Aregon. When Prince Nicholaus of Aregon pays a visit to the restaurant and recognizes Freddie, he kisses her on the forehead, creating front page news that makes the restaurant famous. Keppel decides to open a larger restaurant because of the increase in business. Although Mike and Freddie love each other, Mike gets jealous at the attention Freddie gives the Prince, and quits the group two hours before the grand opening.
Rotten Tomatoes: The first official release from RKO Productions (previous films from this company had been produced by RKO antecedent FBO Pictures), Street Girl afforded Betty Compson to exhibit her considerable skills as a violinist. Compson is cast as Frederika "Freddy" Joyzelle, manager and principal attraction of The Four Seasons, a Jazz Quartet. In love with Mike Fall (John Harron), the group's pianist, Freddy briefly and foolishly falls in love with Prince Nicholaus (Ivan Lebedeff), who hails from the girl's home country of Aragon. But by film's end, Freddy and Mike have patched things up and tied the knot. A box-office hit, Street Girl was remade by RKO Radio as That Girl From Paris (1937) and Four Jacks and a Jill (1944).
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72% (1) Woman to Woman 82 min, [Drama, Romance] [Graham Cutts] [04 Feb 1924]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 72%, External Reviews
Actors: Betty Compson, Clive Brook, Josephine Earle, Marie Ault
Writer: Graham Cutts, Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Morton (play)
External Links: IMDb Language: N/A Country: UK
Plot: David Compton leaves his expecting French girl-friend Louise Boucher, a dancer at the Moulin Rouge, for the war where he looses his memory. Building a new life from scratch after the war, he gets married in London. Louise, now a mother, thinks him dead. She becomes a famous dancer under the name Deloryse but falls gravely ill. One night, as David is in the audience of her show, he recovers his memory. When she learns that David is married to another woman, Louise turns her son in the care of David's new wife and accepting a dancing job at a party, she dies there of exhaustion and sorrow.
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62% (1) On with the Show! 104 min, Passed, [Musical, Romance] [Alan Crosland] [13 Jul 1929]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 62%, External Reviews
Actors: Arthur Lake, Betty Compson, Joe E. Brown, Sally O'Neil
Writer: Humphrey Pearson (based on the play "Shoestring" by), Robert Lord (scenario)
External Links: IMDb Language: English, French Country: USA
Plot: A musical advertised as the first 100% natural color, all-singing production. The plot concerns a wide-eyed former hatcheck girl who takes the place of a rebellious star.
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60% (1) The Miracle Man 80 min, [Drama] [George Loane Tucker] [26 Aug 1919]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 60%, External Reviews
Actors: Betty Compson, J.M. Dumont, Joseph J. Dowling, Lon Chaney
Writer: George M. Cohan (play), Robert Hobart Davis (novel), Robert M. Davis (play), Wid Gunning (titles), Frank L. Packard (novel), George Loane Tucker
External Links: Wikipedia IMDb Language: N/A Country: USA
Plot: A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.
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