| The Drag Net | |
| Director: | Josef von Sternberg |
| Producer: | Adolph Zukor Jesse L. Lasky |
| Starring: | George Bancroft Evelyn Brent |
| Cinematography: | Harold Rosson |
| Editing: | Helen Lewis |
| Distributor: | Paramount Pictures |
| Runtime: | 8 reels |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | Silent film (English intertitles) |
The Drag Net, also known as The Dragnet, is a 1928 American silent crime drama produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed by Paramount Pictures based on the story "Nightstick" by Oliver H.P. Garrett. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg from an original screen story and starring George Bancroft and Evelyn Brent.[1] [2]
This feature is now considered a lost film.[3] [4] [5] [6]
Film historian John Baxter provides a synopsis of it, a film "no longer known to exist in any archive":[7]
On June 4, 1928, The New York Times panned the film: "Notwithstanding George Bancroft's derisive laugh, Evelyn Brent's striking plumed headgear and Josef von Sternberg's generous display of slaughter, The Drag Net is an emphatically mediocre effort."[8]
Critic John Baxter lists The Drag Net among a number of [Sternberg's] films which "failed commercially."[9]
Critic Andrew Sarris concedes that "the plot does sound extremely contrived" but cautions that "plots...are no clue to the merits of Sternberg's films, and until his long-missing film materializes, we must suspend judgment on a work that bridges The Last Command and The Docks of New York."[10]
John Baxter considers The Drag Net to be "in most respects a sequel [to Sternberg's film] Underworld, [and] is perhaps not too great a loss, though it is unwise to write off any Sternberg film."[11]