Sternberg’s incredible feature debut was among the earliest truly independent American productions, made for a pittance outside the studio system and using San Pedro locations to remarkable effect. The Salvation Hunters’ stunning visuals and heartfelt story of love and loneliness caught the eyes of Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, who distributed the film through their company, the fledgling United Artists. Sternberg spun the necessity of a low budget into a virtue: the film faithfully captures the grit of the “lower depths” milieu in its story of an impoverished young woman striving to make a better life with her naive boyfriend, despite being surrounded by men who would exploit her. The film reveals Sternberg, under the influence of Stroheim, rejecting the sentimental melodrama of D.W. Griffith in favor of an almost raw naturalism, fascinated with corruption and abasement while also exploring the poetically charged and evocatively contrasting mise-en-scene.

Live piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin.