Sternberg's silent gangster movie is often wrongly pigeonholed as a
precursor of the 1930s gangster cycle; in fact, as one would expect from
the director of The Blue Angel, the social concerns of its successors
are almost entirely sidelined in favour of a poetic meditation on love
and betrayal. As Bancroft is driven to his doom by jealousy, the cramped
prison cells and shadowy streets become landmarks in an emotional
geography. The film doesn't scale the sublime heights of Sternberg's
collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, but it shows his themes and
imagery coming into being, and remains a work of considerable power.
