"You left all that slush in the river, baby. All you need is a good time." If only life were so simple! Bill Roberts (the strapping George Bancroft) works as a lowly coal stoker on cargo ships, but once he's back in port, he's a brawler, a charming, Bluto-like libertine who takes what he wants from whomever he wants — until he happens upon the drowning, suicidal prostitute Mae (Betty Compson), rescues her, and finds himself mysteriously softened by her fragile charm. A rowdy, impulsive wedding ensues (never mind that he's already married to Shanghai Lou), but how will this union function when Bill goes back to sea — tomorrow? One of Sternberg's last works of the silent era, the film is a visual feast, set almost entirely among the titular docks, a ramshackle demimonde of vice, violence, and disposable labor. The Sandbar, a saloon where much of the action takes place, is populated by an Altman-esque ensemble of kooky characters, and is thrillingly, chaotically photographed. For a silent film, the dialogue really crackles; to today's viewer, Docks suggests an alternate universe in which films like this were not displaced by talkies and audiences were left with characters' colorful lines ringing in the mind's ear. (Text courtesy of Chicago Film Society)

35mm from the UCLA Film & Television Archive

Preceded by: "New York Near Sleep for Saskia" (Peter Hutton, 1972) – 10 min – 16mm from Canyon Cinema

As Matchess, Whitney Johnson composes, improvises, and installs multi-channel sound with viola, sine tones, organ, synthesizers, vocalization, tape looping, and field recording. Her upcoming recording The Supplicant encounters Persephone's annual entreaty to escape the underworld.