Rating: 1/2

Known primarily for his numerous collaborations with Marlene Dietrich, Josef von Sternberg's filmography is often overlooked otherwise.  Take, for instance, this little known, rarely screened version of Theodore Dreiser's classic novel, An American Tragedy.  The outright rejection by critics and Dreiser himself at the time of its release along with the subsequent popularity of George Stevens own popular take on the novel, A Place in the Sun, have played a key role in keeping this film on the fringes, yet it remains, like most von Sternberg films, completely uncompromising and heartwrenchingly beautiful.  Within five minutes, it becomes quite easy to see what led to Dreiser's disdain for the film as Sternberg compresses the first 200 or so pages in a handful of small, compact scenes.  The author's verbose, expansive prose is replaced by the auteur's keen sense of economy in its narrative.  His expressionistic use of water along with various uses of, sometimes humorous, foreshadowing also shift the focus away from Dreiser's tragic protagonist, Clyde Griffiths, and toward the helpless, exploited factory worker, Roberta.  Played with a perfect blend of pathos, naivety and determination, Sylvia Sidney's portrayal of Roberta succeeds where Shelley Winters painfully flawed turn as Alice (same character, different name) fails.

Eschewing the novel's examination of the sociological forces at work and, to a lesser degree, its complex psychological profiles, Sternberg is instead drawn to two specific aspects of the novel - the suffering of his working class heroine and Clyde's despicable cowardice.  The way he captures the delicate features of Sylvia Sidney's face and contrasts it with the harsh contours of Phillips Holmes goes along way to support the film's juxtapositions of beauty and horror.  The corruption via the elusive "American Dream" is all but glossed over in favor of a stronger focus on the emotional torture of Roberta and the cruel ways in which she's manipulated.  Carefully balancing sounds and silence and the delicate, ethereal beauty of the lake with that of the cold courtroom interior, where the entire final act takes place, Sternberg uses his typically expressionistic visual palette to convey the tangled web of emotions, expertly transferring the fears and worries of his heroine in the first half to the towering guilt of the condemned man in the second.

The reenactment of the murder in the courtroom near the end is expertly composed, trapping Clyde in the boat between the two sets of lawyers in the bottom of the frame, beneath the judge.  A large window to the upper right reminds us of the innocent beauty of Clyde and Roberta's love affair, while the sharp, twisted branches recall the shadows cast upon the couple as he cemented his decision to murder her.  This set-up creates a palpable sense of tension as Clyde is forced to confront the cowardice of his act in front of the jury, the public and, worst of all, his mother and relive the terror Roberta must have gone through herself.  As harsh as this sequence is, Sternberg still shows some compassion, expressing distaste for the death penalty and balancing it with the fleeting yet tender comfort his mother provides him after the verdict is read.  The director's humanity is found not in letting Clyde off the hook or equating his downfall with some sort of martyrdom, but in his unflinching sympathy for Roberta, which is found in every frame of the film, even following her death.