Shanghai Express

Shanghai Express is another von Sternberg masterpiece, probably not appreciated in his day (no academy awards) and lesser known that it should be in this day. Film theory says this film was an attempt to shade degrees of blackness. At one point, Marlene Dietrich's face blooms like a white flower out of the shadows, then closes again.

Beautiful is not a big enough word enough to describe the cinematography in Shanghai Express. The plot is dreamlike and unrealistic (Sternberg hated realism), the costumes are excessive (impossible to contain in Dietrich's supposed luggage), the atmosphere is deliciously layered with decadence, exoticism (good part for Anna Mae Wong) and deterioration (broken walls, slats and fantasies), punctuated by von Sternberg's caprice (chickens wandering in front of the train -- a symbol of Dietrich's husband's profession as a chicken farmer?).

The storyline is basically a broken romance seeking to be healed between Clive Brook and Dietrich or "Shanghai Lily," the naughty lady who has sold her body the past few years to keep herself in glittery costumes and furs.

The real "story" is "Dietrich and von Sternberg visit China" on some movie lot, on their way from or to Russia (The Scarlet Empress), Spain (The Devil is a Woman), North Africa (Morocco), or somewhere in the U.S. (Blonde Venus).

Gorgeous and lots of fun!

In 1931, during the civil war in China, a train leaves Beijing to Shanghai. Among the passengers, the British Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey (Clive Brook) that is traveling to operate the Vice-Governor of Shanghai; the courtesan Hui Fei (Anna May Wong); the Reverend Mr. Carmichael (Lawrence Grant); the boarding house owner Mrs. Haggerty (Louise Closser Hale); the French Major Lenard (Emile Chautard); the dealer Eric Baum (Gustav von Seyffertitz); and the local Mr. Henry Chang (Warner Oland). Out of the blue, Captain Harvey stumbles with the notorious courtesan Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich), who is a "coaster" ("a woman that travels along the China coast with her wealthy clients"), and he recognizes her as her former lover Magdalen. Five years ago, Shanghai Lily tested his faith and love for her and Doc left her, in the beginning of her promiscuous life. Their encounter rekindles the old flame of their love and he shows that he is wearing the watch she gave to him. The train is stopped by Chinese soldiers seeking out a rebel agent and they arrest him. But Chang telegraphs a coded message and the rebels take over the train along the trip. Chang, who is their leader, interviews the passengers to find someone worthwhile to be exchanged by the arrested agent and he chooses Captain Harvey. Chang also tries to force Shanghai Lily to stay with him but Captain Harvey defends her and knocks him down; then he rapes Hui Fei. When the government releases the rebel agent, Chang decides to revenge Harvey blinding him. However, Shanghai Lily offers herself to Chang to release Harvey. What will happen to her?

"Shanghai Express" is a great Pre-Code Film with magnificent performances of the gorgeous Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. The melodramatic romance about the lack of faith in love and the recounter of two former lovers in the environment of the Chinese Civil War in 1931 is engaging with wonderful black and white cinematography. Marlene Dietrich deserved a better romantic pair since the wooden Clive Brook does not have good performance. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Expresso de Shanghai" ("The Shanghai Express")

SHANGHAI EXPRESS is an excellent film from 1932 that stars Marlene Dietrich but also benefits from a strong ensemble cast. In other words, while Dietrich is an important part of the film, she isn't THE film and supporting actors also help to make this a good film. I like this because too often in her early films all the weight of the movie rested on how sexy and alluring Dietrich's characters were supposed to be--and to me, this got very old after a while. It helped here, though, that Dietrich's usual angular and severe looks are a bit less pronounced (as was the case in her very early Hollywood films). Here, she plays "a woman of ill-repute" (a prostitute) but there are many others that give the film life as well--making this film a bit like GRAND HOTEL on the rails! This film has the distinct honor of being one of the only films in which Warner Oland plays an Asian yet this isn't necessarily insulting to real Asian actors. That's because Oland was Swedish-born and often played Asians (such as Charlie Chan)--while qualified Asians were relegated to supporting roles! However, in this film, his character is supposed to be half-Chinese and half-Western--so the casting wasn't a bad idea at all.

Apart from Oland and Dietrich, Anna May Wong, Clive Brook, Lawrence Grant and Eugene Palette, among others, are on hand to provide some color. Ms. Wong, in particular, had some excellent scenes playing a Chinese prostitute and defender of the Chinese Republic (a strange combination, I know).

As far as Grant goes, his was a truly unusual character. His Reverend Mr. Carmichael was odd because initially he came off as such a prudish and self-righteous jerk--so much so that the studio was forced to re-write his character and soften him up some as to avoid offending religious sensibilities of the audiences. However, by changing a few scenes, they made him one of the most unusual and three-dimensional minsters portrayed in film during the era. How he came to actually like and respect Dietrich (the prostitute) may seem a bit silly to some, but I actually liked the way they re-wrote the film. As a result, of all the passengers, Grant's came off as perhaps the most interesting.

As far as the film goes, in addition to good performances, the writing, direction and cinematography were all exceptional. A top-notch film that sure will keep your interest as you follow this train through rebel territory in China.

About the only negative about the film might be that it promotes the old film cliché of "the prostitute with a heart of gold"--in fact, it has this times two! Just once, I'd like to see a film where the prostitute isn't so glamorous (perhaps with a few herpes scabs) and isn't a nice person after all!! Imagine if PRETTY WOMAN had followed THAT formula!!

Shanghai Express is directed by Josef von Sternberg and written by Jules Furthman (adaptation) & Harry Hervey (story). It stars Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brooks, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Palette and Lawrence Grant. Music is by W. Franke Harling & Rudoplh G. Kopp and cinematography by Lee Garmes.

Plot finds Shanghai Lily (Dietrich) meeting up with old flame Donald Harvey (Brooks) aboard the Shanghai Express during the Chinese Civil War in 1931. However, this train has many passengers with secrets to hide, so when some rebels ambush the train, such things as loyalties, friendships, hidden motives and the birthing of legends come to the fore.

Stylishly crafted by Sternberg and brisker than the other collaborations with Dietrich, Shanghai Express thrives on atmospheric visuals, strong scripting and a sultry turn from the leading lady. The cramped confines of the train allow Sternberg to dally with trademark shadows, smoke and shafts of light for maximum effect, garnering Garmes an Oscar in the process, while there is deft deadpannery amongst the myriad of intriguing characters.

Quality film making on both sides of the camera and also off of the writers desk. 8/10

Fourth out of seven Dietrich-von Sternberg's collaborations, SHANGHAI EXPRESS confirms with Hollywood's habitually insensitive appropriation of exotic stories, this time, the victim is a civil war-ridden China, the entire film sets during the treacherous journey of the titular express, chugging from Beijing to Shanghai, but apparently, von Sternberg cannot lay his hands on finding enough Mandarin-speaking extras, so all the Chinese bit players are sporting Cantonese with a weird accent that even confounds this reviewer's Chinese ears, and some of them are occasionally being manhandled unceremoniously, notably in an earlier scene by a miffed Charlie Chan, no, actually it is Henry Chang (Oland), an Eurasian warlord of Chinese rebellions with a costly price tag on his head.

Essentially, the movie is Ms. Dietrich's star vehicle, kit up with astounding sartorial creations from Travis Banton, and looks gorgeously photogenic under von Sternberg's meticulous coordination, she plays a courtesan named Shanghai Lily, of all people, she chances upon her ex-lover, British Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey (a stiff upper-lipped Brook) on the express, while the pair's romance duly begins to rekindle, Chang and his rebellious rabble hijacks the train and detains Doc as a valuable hostage, soon, it falls to two women's hands to take the situation out of jeopardy, one is Shanghai Lily, who acquiesces to Chang's commander for the sake of Doc's safety, another is her companion, a Chinese working girl Hui Fei (a piercing-looking Wong, the first Chinese-American star in Hollywood), who successfully lands on her feet after a vengeful assassination.

Sardonically, the rest western passengers are more or less one-note laughing-stocks, casual scorn is cast upon an opium merchant and self-professed "invalid" Eric Baum (von Seyffertitz), a priggish Reverend Carmichael (Grant) and a congenital bettor Sam Salt (Pallette), whereas Henry Chang is accountable for all the contempt, conversely it is the gamble of love and faith that transpires after its torpid escape hubbub, and it is Shanghai Lily's clandestine repentance finally softens the film's cynical temperament and veers into the usual trajectory of a cheesy romance, but what an extravaganza is on show, von Sternberg's expressionistic idiom would totally normalize the standards we view movies even today, whether it concerns narrative cohesion, the marshaling of a huge set, or spectacular montage arrangements, no wonder audience at that time could rapturously fall under his spell, SHANGHAI EXPRESS is the highest grossing movie of 1932, even today, it demands our collective gaze.