A fascinating pre-code time capsule about lower classes that somehow rings true in places. Although the melodrama is perhaps too forceful and tried, and the pacing is off, this is well worth a view. Be prepared to concentrate, though: the 4 main characters speak in strong accents of German, Irish, Swedish, or Drunk, which 80 years after the fact is sometimes difficult to decipher.

The movie is appropriately sordid, and the O'Neill dialogue gives us characters we may pity--and even admire a little--without descending too far into sentimentality. Like many early talkies, the pacing never quite works, and George F. Marion ("That old devil sea!") is close to unbearable, but Bickford, Dressler and Garbo are all very good.