3 Silent Classics by Josef Von Sternberg (Criterion Collection)

Three key silent films by Austrian-American director Josef von Sternberg are featured in this special three-disc set that boasts an array of new musical scores by Robert Israel and the Alloy Orchestra. Widely regarded as pioneering the gangster film genre, von Sternberg's trip through the "Underworld" (1927) relates the hard-boiled saga of a mobster, his girl, and a has-been attorney. George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent star; scripter Ben Hecht won the Academy Award. Emil Jannings won the first Best Actor Oscar for "The Last Command" (1928), portraying a Russian general forced to flee his motherland, ironically hired on as an extra in a Hollywood film version of the Revolution of 1917. With Brent, William Powell. Finally, Bancroft saves a dance-hall girl (Betty Compson) from suicide, beginning a deep romance played out in and around "The Docks of New York" (1928). With Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook. 4 hrs. total. Standard; Soundtrack: Dolby Digital stereo music score; featurettes; interview; 98-page booklet. Silent with music score.