A hypnotic tale of intrigue and romance starring a Hollywood icon
An astonishing visual experience, “Shanghai Express” is all about light, shadows, textures, atmosphere, and Marlene Dietrich. Made by cinema’s preeminent poet, Josef von Sternberg, this majestic pictorial showpiece is minimally about story, a bit about love and faith, and all about style – the sumptuous and tantalizing type that can only be found in a Sternberg/Dietrich film. In addition, this film is the ultimate testament to the hypnotizing power movie stars had during Hollywood’s Golden Age. They, and cinematic beauty like this, don’t exist anymore. Nominated for three Academy Awards (including Best Picture) and winner of one, “Shanghai Express” was, and remains, a mesmerizing masterpiece.
The film opens with meticulously woven shots at a train station of throngs of people scurrying about in all directions, baggage and crated animals being carried, people arriving, buying tickets, hanging out of train windows, all to the sounds of trains and muddled voices. Each shot is chockfull of objects, people, and movement from top to bottom, side to side, and background to foreground, giving us a visceral experience of the chaos and excitement of a jam-packed train about to depart. It’s a thrilling opening to say the least.
The train is the Shanghai Express, and it’s about to leave Shanghai for a three-day journey to Peking. During the opening hustle bustle, we are briefly introduced to some first-class passengers who become the focal point of the story: distinguished British captain "Donald 'Doc' Harvey”; insolent British boarding-house mistress "Mrs. Haggerty”; righteous British “Reverend Carmichael”; beautiful Chinese prostitute "Hui Fei"; gruff American gambler "Sam Salt”; French officer "Major Lenard”; grumbling German invalid "Eric Baum”; elusive Eurasian "Henry Chang”; and the mysterious “Madeline”, a prostitute known as “Shanghai Lily”, aka “the notorious white flower of China”. China is in a state of civil war and the passengers soon find themselves and their train embroiled in the rebels’ search for hostages.
Melodramatic subplots weave throughout, but the main storyline revolves around “Lily” and “Doc”. Former lovers who meet on the same train by chance, they parted five years ago when “Lily” played a trick on “Doc” to test his love, but it backfired and she lost him. They still love each other, but with the discovery of "Lily's" new reputation ("It took more than one man to change my name to 'Shanghai Lily'") and circumstances that arise, “Doc” finds it hard to rekindle their relationship. What emerges are themes about faith, ignoring convention, and unconditional love. That said, the film is really just a playground in which to show beauty, and at the center is Marlene Dietrich as “Shanghai Lily”, a creature of insurmountable appeal and allure.
It’s impossible to talk about “Shanghai Express” without mentioning the team of Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich. They first worked together when he cast her in his 1930 German film "The Blue Angel”, which was an international hit and led the German-born Dietrich to Hollywood. In Hollywood, they made six films together through 1935, the third of which was “Shanghai Express”, and molded Dietrich’s intoxicating onscreen image into that of a languishing, seductive, irresistible temptress. A director who painted with light, shadows, and composition, Sternberg found his muse in Dietrich, whose face and figure were topmost among the landscapes he so breathtakingly captured.
Sternberg believed cinema was an art form, and he and Dietrich brought out the best in each other. With little interest in depicting reality, he sought to capture mood and sensuality, and Dietrich was the perfect canvas, allowing herself to be molded by him. He’d tell her where to look, how long to pause before saying a word or sentence (down to the exact number of seconds), and how fast or slow to speak, focusing on the desired look or mood rather than the acting, and Dietrich was able to give him exactly what he wanted, bringing to it a magical quality. He formulated a style of dramatically lighting, photographing, and posing her in ways that she transcends humankind and transforms into an emblem of unattainable perfection and beauty. And never more so than in “Shanghai Express”.
There are at least a half-dozen moments of Dietrich in “Shanghai Express” that are so powerfully sensual and overwhelmingly glamorous they’ve become iconic, such as her face engulfed in fur when talking to “Doc” on the back of the train, her hand and face pressed against a glass window as her hair blows in the wind, or perhaps most famously, smoking a cigarette under a light. Sternberg virtually places the film in suspended animation to indulge in such moments, letting Dietrich cast her hypnotic spell as she poses for the camera and us. It’s unnatural and theatrical, and yet fits perfectly into Sternberg’s magical world.
Sternberg’s dreamy artistry extends beyond his shots of Dietrich, as he uses meticulously detailed and opulent sets, costumes, and props rich in texture to reinforce or even drive the story, such as the magnificent way the train’s glass compartment doors and their shades frame or hide action, the deliciously ostentatious dining car echoing the wealth and insulated world of its first-class passengers, or the sheer curtains that hang in the middle of the interrogation rooms acting as a delicate buffer between us and the bad things that go on behind them.
The Sternberg/Dietrich films were often set in exotic, elaborate, dreamlike utopias created on sets to Sternberg's exact specifications, even painting shadows on walls, floors, or ceilings to get the precise look he wanted. He transformed several California railroad stations to look like his own fairytale version of Peking. His films were an intentional move towards artificiality, and it was reported that upon visiting China after he made this film, he was overjoyed to see China was nothing like it.
Sternberg’s exceptionally crafted compositions, chiaroscuro lighting, use of smoke, lingering dissolves and superimpositions generate excitement out of the simplest moments, such as the shot of three Chinese soldiers listing to Morse code as the camera gracefully moves in for a closeup of the noise-making contraption and slowly dissolves to a written English translation of the message. It flows like a visual poem – as does the entire film – and I can’t think of any director in film history that can rival Sternberg's distinctive and unforgettable sense of mise-en-scène. His extraordinary direction in "Shanghai Express” deservedly earned him a Best Director Academy Award nomination.
After rocky beginnings at other studios, Josef von Sternberg found his way to directing films at Paramount, the Hollywood studio known to grant directors the most freedom. So it was the perfect place for him to express and explore his own style, and during his tenure there, he produced his best films, especially the ones with Dietrich (I’m including “The Blue Angel” made by UFA, Paramount's sister studio in Germany). Paramount came to be known for making exotic and somewhat European flavored films, largely due to Sternberg. As audiences' tastes changed, his films lost favor, and after 1935's "The Devil is a Woman", he parted ways with both Dietrich and Paramount. Sternberg continued to make movies, though he never again reached the artistic heights he found with Dietrich at Paramount. You can read more about the life and career of Josef von Sternberg and his partnership with Dietrich in my post on “Morocco”. Click on the film title to open it.
As we become more removed from the Hollywood Studio Era we don't hear this anymore, but for a couple of decades starting in the 1960s, one would constantly hear “there are no real movie stars anymore”. That’s because with the end of the that era, stars were no longer being manufactured. At the time of “Shanghai Express”, over 80 million people were going to the movies each week and major studios were producing anywhere from 50 to 100 films a year. As such, hundreds or even thousands of people were under studio contract in all different departments, and movies where churned out at assembly line speeds.
Whether it was Jean Harlow, Mickey Rooney, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, or John Wayne, once a studio realized they had an actor with a screen persona audiences would pay money to see, they did everything they could to enhance and showcase that image. The right hair, clothes, makeup and so forth were honed by experts from each department, movies were tailored or specifically written for a star’s persona, and even studio publicity departments fabricated “real-life” stories to fuel that image. Thus, the biggest movie stars became larger than life figures, and sitting high among them was Marlene Dietrich. The rest of the world may have had kings and queens, but American royalty was its movie stars.
Marlene Dietrich as “Shanghai Lily” is as fine an example of a true movie star as one can find. I’m not sure if it’s her astoundingly flawless glamour highlighted by her bold fashions, her mysterious manner coupled with her sultry voice and accent, the spectacular lighting that turns her skin into porcelain and makes her features dazzle, or her fiercely independent, aloof, and somewhat androgynous presence, but whatever it is, you can’t take your eyes off her. Her otherworldly perfection and strange magnetic intensity are hypnotizing. Notice the way she looks at “Doc” on the back of the train just before he kisses her. Her expression is pure sex. Amazing. On-screen, Dietrich doesn’t look, speak, or act like anyone else. She is simply not of this earth.
A German actress of stage and screen in Berlin during the Weimar Republic years, Marlene Dietrich found international fame starring in Sternberg’s 1930 German masterpiece “The Blue Angel”. It was enough for Sternberg to insist she return with him to Hollywood and that Paramount grant her a contract. Paramount agreed, hoping they'd found their answer to Hollywood’s then mega star, MGM’s Swedish import Greta Garbo (who you can read about in my “Queen Christina” and “Camille” posts). But because Dietrich played an unfavorable character in “The Blue Angel”, Paramount delayed its US release until after that of her first American film with Sternberg, 1930’s “Morocco”, which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination and made her an instant international Hollywood star.
In “Morocco”, the glamorous, mysterious femme fatale screen image she and Sternberg created began to crystalize, cemented by all six American film collaborations. Openly bisexual, without stating it, Dietrich’s image was one of sexual freedom (echoing her Weimar days), and she cross-dressed to various degrees in all her Sternberg films. Whether donning a man’s tuxedo or a glittering gown, she was the height of sophisticated and often over the top glamour while being equal parts masculine and feminine. “Lily” is the strongest and most moral character in “Shanghai Express” (when “Chang” tries to have his way with her she says “Don’t touch me” with such authority, he listens), and at one point she zestfully grabs “Doc’s” officer’s hat and confidently wears it before returning it. It may seem innocuous today, but back then Dietrich’s screen behavior was trailblazing.
Dietrich was fiercely protective of her image, which relied heavily on her look, and a telling example was shared by her daughter, Maria Riva, in her book, “Marlene Dietrich”. Riva was six years old when she stood on the set of “Shanghai Express” each day holding her mother’s hand mirror. If her mother called "wardrobe", a wardrobe assistant ran to Dietrich with a cushion and hot iron to eliminate any bubbles or wrinkles in her clothes. If she yelled "make-up", Riva and the make-up girl ran to do touch-ups, and if she yelled "hair”, the hair person immediately fixed Dietrich's curls. As Riva remembered: "These calls were continual, and with Dietrich’s perfectionism, even more so. Not only did she have a sixth sense about anything out of line, she also had her own constant watchdog, her full-length mirror. Framed, on its own rolling platform, it boasted three high-wattage bulbs along each side, was so positioned that whatever von Sternberg’s camera saw, so did Dietrich’s peripheral eye. She used it constantly, adjusting, correcting anything and everything she considered imperfect in any way. Von Sternberg never interfered, never lost patience with this maniacal perfection”.
Dietrich became a master in every way at how to best capture and present her image. Shirley MacLaine remembered this in her book “I'm Over All That: and Other Confessions”, recalling working with Dietrich on the 1956 film "Around the World in 80 Days": "Marlene Dietrich taught me how to light myself… She was the master of lighting, as well as the master of costume fittings. I used to sit and watch her being fitted in everything from leather tuxedos to full-length sequined gowns. Her fittings lasted for six hours. She was literally the last one left standing. She would ponder deeply over exactly how close the sequins should be sewn together. She loved to design the sequins so the audience could just see through them, revealing the shape of her legs. She taught me a new use for 2½-millimeter pearls (to be put in the center of my bra so you would think they were my nipples). She also showed me how to string a small, nearly invisible chain under my chin which was then attached to pincurls on either side of my face. This was the Dietrich face-lift. Of course I had a headache by lunch, but it was worth it. She ate only every other day, and not much even then. That’s how she kept her figure. Not something I could ever do”. Dietrich also reportedly never ate on the set of “Shanghai Express”.
All Dietrich’s obsessiveness was not in vain, for she created one of the most enigmatic and intriguing movie stars in history. She dedicated her life to that image, which was so strong, many have said even she began to believe her own legend. Her last ten years were spent in seclusion so as to never tarnish the illusion she created. You can read more about the life and career of Marlene Dietrich in my post on “Morocco”. Be sure to check it out.
A third person can’t be ignored when taking about the creation of Dietrich’s image, and that’s costume designer Travis Banton. Banton created her costumes for all six American Sternberg films, including "Lily's" heart-stopping attire in “Shanghai Express”. One can't help but gasp as she first appears in the film in a black dress bursting with black coq feathers, punctuated with draping pearls, and accented with a veiled skull-cap, forming a swirl of mystery around this luminous creature. All of Banton’s designs helped build the foundation of intriguing magnetism, sophisticated glamour, and modern sexuality for which Dietrich became famous.
The amount of thought and creativity that go into designing costumes is not often given due credit, and as such, it’s rarely if ever mentioned that Dietrich's image was truly shaped by a trinity – Sternberg-Dietrich-Banton. Her image was fashioned by both men – Sternberg through lenses, angles, and lights, and Banton through jewels, fabrics, feathers, and furs. The work and ideas set forth by any one of them directly affected and influenced the other two. An illuminating example comes from another of Riva’s memories during “Shanghai Express”, in particular, the creation of the above mentioned iconic black dress with black feathers and skull cap.
While “Shanghai Express” was still being written by Sternberg, Banton was told to make Dietrich look “mysterious” as “Lily”. Dietrich thought she was fat at the time and wanted to wear black but with something to break up any flatness. Sternberg said “Lily” was like a rare bird, so "maybe feathers?". Excited, Dietrich went to Banton to figure out what bird had black feathers that could photograph well. After sifting through giant boxes of all sorts of black feathers from everything to egrets to crows to herons and eagles in crates at the studio’s Wardrobe Department, Banton remembered the black-green iridescent tail feathers of Mexican fighting cocks. He ordered some, and to everyone’s joy, when they arrived, the shape and color were perfect. With that, Banton knew the look of the film, and could now design the first costume.
The last issue with that dress was the veil attached to the skull-cap. Dietrich went through bolts of mesh fabric (from diamond patterned to polka dotted to vertical squiggles to horizontal lines and everything in between) to find the one that worked best. Over three hours later, Banton asked if she really needed a veil, to which Dietrich responded, yes, “something is missing”. She continued placing fabrics across her eyes until one suddenly made her face spring to life. Everyone jumped at how it made her eyes and face pop, including Riva, Dietrich, Banton, and his many assistants.
When the dress was ready, Sternberg came to see Dietrich in it, and as Riva says in her book, “Without saying a word, he moved slowly toward her, reached up his hand, helped her step down; bending low before her, he kissed her gloved hand, and said softly, ‘If you believe I am skilled enough to know how to photograph this, then all I can offer you is – to do the impossible’. Turning to an apprehensive Travis, he nodded, saying ’A superb execution of an impossible design. I congratulate you all’, and left… This repeated challenging of each other’s talents was the true genius of the Sternberg-Dietrich collaboration. She set him and his camera impossible tasks to overcome. He demanded of her things beyond the range of her talent. They flung down these artists gauntlets like duelists, fully expecting to kill or be killed, and love it when they both survived each supreme test”. Though unsung, Banton was certainly part of that.
Texas-born Travis Banton didn't only design costumes for Dietrich, but in the 1920s and 1930s, was one of Hollywood's most important and sought-after designers (many consider him the all-time greatest). He studied art, theater, and fashion, and designed some of silent film star Norma Talmadge's costumes for the 1917 film "Poppy". He worked for a famed New York designer, was hired to make costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies, and silent movie star Mary Pickford chose his designs for her wedding gown to silent screen legend Douglas Fairbanks in the "marriage of the century". Paramount Pictures became aware of Banton's talents and hired him to design costumes for their films beginning with 1925's "The Dressmaker from Paris". After designing costumes for over a dozen more films, he became Paramount's chief costume designer from 1929 to 1938. But bad behavior from alcoholism prevented Paramount from renewing his contract, and his apprentice, Edith Head, took over his job. He found work at other studios before retiring after 1951's "Valentino". In addition to Dietrich, Banton invented the styles of stars such as Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, and Mae West, and oversaw the costume designs of well over 250 films, some of which include "Wings", "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", "The Sign of the Cross", "Design for Living", "I'm No Angel", "My Man Godfrey", "The Mark of Zorro", and "Cover Girl". Though Banton married in 1942 and lived with his wife for ten years, it's been repeatedly said it was a marriage of convenience to cover up that he was gay. Travis Banton died in 1958 at the age of 63.
Clive Brook stars in “Shanghai Express” as the world-weary "Captain Donald 'Doc' Harvey” en route to Shanghai to perform brain surgery. In a Sternberg-stylized way, Brook shows “Doc’s" conflicted love and deep hurt for "Madeline", as when he first sees her leaning out of a train window and learns she is "Shanghai Lily". He also has a very strong scene when being interrogated. Brook gives a fine performance with a suave and strong demeanor all throughout (as you'll see if you can manage to pull your eyes off Dietrich). Though he was a major star and appeared in several classics, he is best remembered for "Shanghai Express".
London-born Clive Brook was a major in the British Army during World War I, worked as a journalist and insurance clerk before turning to acting in 1918, and made it to the London stage in 1920. His first film was the 1920 British silent "Trent's Last Case". More stage and film roles followed before he was brought to Hollywood to star in 1924's "Christine of the Hungry Heart”. He ended up staying in Hollywood for nearly a decade, starring mostly as a stoic and sophisticated British gentleman, earning the nickname "The Rock of Gibraltar”. He was a very popular actor, and one of the highlights of his silent career was starring in Sternberg's 1927 masterpiece, "Underworld". Brook easily transitioned to sound films and worked on stage and screen on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing in just over 100 films through 1944, on British television in the 1950s, and back to the screen for 1963's "The List of Adrian Messenger". His other films include "Four Feathers", "On Approval", “Cavalcade", "The Devil Dancer", "Woman to Woman", and most famously in the title role of 1932's "Sherlock Holmes". He was married once for over fifty years until his death. Clive Brook died in 1974 at the age of 87.
According to the American Film Institute, records show that one thousand extras were hired for this film, and as you'll see, many are Chinese. One leading actor of Chinese descent was also cast, and that’s American-born Anna May Wong, who plays the enigmatic courtesan “Hui Fei”. In a haunting performance, Wong is poised, elegant, and strong-willed, with an inner toughness. Quietly intense, she does a lot with just a look, as when “Reverend Carmichael” yells at the porter (referring to her): “I won’t share a compartment with this woman… I haven’t lived for ten years in this country not to know a woman like that when I see one. Get me another compartment! Take my luggage out of here!”. She watches him leave, coolly flicking the ashes off her cigarette.
“Hui” creates more electricity with “Lily” than anyone else (including “Doc”), which led to wide rumors that Dietrich and Wong were more than friends. That may or may not have been true (Dietrich was known to sleep with many of her costars and there was speculation of Wong being lesbian), but I can’t find any solid evidence. According to Riva, Wong and Dietrich became close friends during filming and often smoked, had coffee, and chatted on the set between takes, but she believed that was all. Dietrich helped Wong’s appearance sparkle even more by assisting with the shape of her bangs and having Banton redesign one of her kimonos to look more flattering. Though she was a big star who appeared in many movies, Wong’s best-known film today is “Shanghai Express”.
Los Angeles-born Anna May Wong visited film sets as the industry was moving from the East Coast to the West, and at an early age, wanted to be a movie star. Learning that the 1919 film “The Red Lantern” was looking for 300 extras, she finagled her way to be one of them, and at the age of nine, made her film debut holding a lantern in that film. After continual extra work, she dropped out of high school to fully pursue acting. Her first credited film role was as Lon Chaney’s wife in 1921's "Bits of Life”, and her first leading role was in the 1922 two-color Technicolor film "The Toll of the Sea". As an Asian in a white dominated industry, Hollywood at the time didn't know what to do with her and she found herself regulated to stereotypical Asian roles as either an evil "Dragon Lady” or a submissive, self-sacrificial woman. Stardom came as a Dragon Lady in the 1924 classic Douglas Fairbanks adventure, "The Thief of Bagdad", and though she was now a big success, US anti-miscegenation laws and increasing censorship against mixed-race kissing and couples in American movies kept her stuck in stereotypical roles. Fed up with her roles and frustrated seeing Europeans, Mexicans, and American Indians play Chinese in Hollywood films, Wong moved to Europe in 1928 (she spoke fluent English, French, and German) and began starring in films with great success and acclaim, such as "Song and Show Life", "Pavement Butterfly", “Piccadilly", "The Road to Dishonour”, and her first sound film, "The Flame of Love”. She was now a full-blown celebrity and fashion icon.
In 1930, Paramount lured her back to Hollywood with the promise of leading roles and top billing, and though her first role was stereotypical (in 1931's "Daughter of the Dragon“), she took it with the promise that she'd get to work with Sternberg – which she did next with "Shanghai Express”. But Wong found Hollywood no better than before, and she moved to England and starred in a handful of films, including 1934's "Java Head" (the only film in which she kissed a white actor), before returning to Hollywood. Because of American racial mores of the day (which influenced movies), nothing much changed and Wong struggled to get decent roles. Her greatest disappointment came with 1938’s Chinese saga, “The Good Earth”, in which she hoped to play the female lead. But being a star-driven industry and that the film was a vehicle for the big star of the day, white actor Paul Muni, the Motion Picture Production Code’s rules against mixed-race kissing and relationships in Hollywood films made it impossible to cast her as Muni’s wife (white actress Luise Rainer, who just won a Best Actress Oscar, was cast and won a second Oscar in the role). Instead, Wong was offered the second lead, that of an unsympathetic concubine. She declined.
By the late 1930's Wong was finally getting non-stereotypical roles, though they were n B movies such as "Daughter of Shanghai" and "King of Chinatown". Wong also appeared on radio, vaudeville, and had a touring cabaret act throughout the US, Europe, and Australia. After 1942, she only made two more films, 1949's "Impact" and 1960's "Portrait in Black", and began appearing on television with the 1951 detective series “The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong”, written specifically for her. She appeared in over fifty films and made significant contributions to radio, stage and TV. Her other films include "Peter Pan”, "Tiger Bay", "Chu Chin Chow", "Forty Winks”, and "A Study in Scarlet”. As Hollywood's first Chinese-American movie star, and bringing depth and dignity to her characters, Wong humanized Asians on-screen at a time of extreme racism (when laws discriminated against Chinese immigration and citizenship). She was very vocal about the lack of substantial roles for Asian actors and frequently spoke out against the practice of casting non-Asians in “yellow face" as Asians. Her legacy as a pioneering actress and cultural icon endures, and she's been the inspiration for poems, books, film retrospectives, a 2023 Barbie doll, and more. In 2022, the United States Mint issued a commemorative Anna May Wong quarter, the fifth coin in the American Women Quarters™ Program. She never married. Anna May Wong died from a heart attack in 1961 at the age of 56.
Warner Oland plays “Henry Chang”, a strange and mysterious Eurasian. With a formidable presence, Oland gives a compelling performance, adding layers of tension and intrigue. To Wong’s point, Oland was a non-Asian actor who became a star playing Asians, such as “Chang” in “Shanghai Express”.
Born in Sweden, Warner Oland emigrated to the US with his family when he was thirteen and began acting onstage, making his Broadway debut in 1902's "The Eternal City”. After debuting 1912's "Pilgrim's Progress", he began working steadily in movies from 1915 onwards. Because his features looked mildly Asian (he claimed he had Mongolian heritage, which was never proven), Oland was often cast as Asians, such as a devious Japanese spy in 1917’s “Patria” or the crafty "Wu Fang" in 1919's "The Lightning Raider". He had a co-starring role as a Jewish cantor in the 1927 landmark “The Jazz Singer”, and the following year was cast as Chinese supervillain "Dr. Fu Manchu" in "The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu", which made him a star. He reprised his role as “Fu Manchu" in three more films over the next two years. In 1931, Oland played Chinese-American police detective "Charlie Chan" in "Charlie Chan Carries On", which was an international success and led to fifteen more "Charlie Chan" films, including his final, 1937's "Charlie Chan at Monte Carlo". These films were so popular, they saved Fox Studios from going bankrupt and made Oland their biggest star and moneymaker (until Shirley Temple in 1934). He brought a unique presence to the screen in nearly 100 films, and others include "Dishonored" (with Sternberg and Dietrich), "Tell It to the Marines", "The Painted Veil", "Don Juan", "The Werewolf of London", "Riders of the Purple Sage”, and “Mandalay”. He was married once. Warner Oland suffered from mental issues and alcoholism, and during a return trip to Sweden, contracted bronchial pneumonia and died in 1938 at the age of 57.
A quick mention of a face and voice watchers of the films on this blog will recognize, and that’s Eugene Pallette, who plays colorful gambler “Sam Salt”. As “Sam” says, “I bet on everything under the sun going right or wrong”, and Pallette’s gift for gruff comedy makes this man entertainingly fun throughout – whether contemplating if the train will arrive on time, if they will come out of this alive, or his quips about the fan in the dining car. Pallette's jovial yet tough disposition and district gravely voice made him a popular and recognizable staple in over 260 Hollywood movies from the 1920s through the mid-1940s. You can read more about the life and career of Eugene Paulette in my posts on "My Man Godfrey" and "The Adventures of Robin Hood”.
In addition to Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, "Shanghai Express" won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, awarded to Lee Garmes for his absolutely stunning work.
The magical films made by Sternberg and Dietrich are something every serious movie watcher should witness at least once, and this week’s film is a prime specimen. So get lost in the type of glamour, style, and star power that made Hollywood the film center of the world. Enjoy “Shanghai Express”!
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Loved this awesome post, Jay! I'm a big fan of Shanghai Express -- I don't own a lot of DVDs, but this is on my list of ones that I want to buy. I especially enjoyed reading your insights and the infromation about the individual performers. Really good stuff!
Karen
Jay, I'll have to check this out. I havent seen too many Dietrich films, none where she worked with Sternberg. Last saw her in Wilder's version of Witness for the Prosecution where she and Laughton stole the show, IMO. Thanks again for the great backstory reviews!