1932
Directed by
Josef von Sternberg
Writing credits
Harry Hervey (story)
Jules Furthman (screenplay)
Cast
Marlene Dietrich .... Shanghai Lily, aka Magdalen
Clive Brook .... Captain Donald 'Doc' Harvey
Anna May Wong .... Hui Fei
Warner Oland .... Mr. Henry Chang
Eugene Pallette .... Sam Salt
Lawrence Grant .... Reverend Mr. Carmichael
Louise Closser Hale .... Mrs. Haggerty
Gustav von Seyffertitz .... Eric Baum
Emile Chautard .... Major Lenard
In the midst of the Chinese Civil War a group of foreigners catch the Shanghai Express from Peking. There's the army surgeon, the Reverend, a French army officer, a brash American, etc. etc. Fittingly for ex pats, they’re more concerned about internal group gossip than the fact that their train is passing through the middle of a war. They gossip about one passenger in particular, the notorious heartbreaker Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich).
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This early version of The Ring suffered
from crude special effects. |
Five years earlier Shanghai Lily had a passionate affair with the army surgeon, Captain Donald Harvey. It’s obvious that there's still something between them. For one, he still wears a cheesy watch with a picture of her on it. The novelty watch may remain, but his trust for her is long gone, and they can never rekindle their romance while that’s the case. During the night the Chinese government stops the train and arrests a rebel spy on board. Further down the tracks Chinese rebels stop the train and take Captain Harvey captive, with a view to trading him for their man. But one of the rebel leaders, Mr. Chang has the hots for Shanghai Lily, and she has to sacrifice herself to save Captain Harvey. Not that Captain Harvey works out what's happened quickly, as he thinks she's still the typically loose Shanghai Lily of old times.
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The Officer dared his adversary not
to peek at his crotch. |
Shanghai Express does look great, and Lee Garmes won the Oscar for Cinematography. In particular, Marlene Deitrich is given numerous lush close ups in dark rooms with a single light source illuminating her face or eyes. And to see a Marlene Deitrich film without these scenes is a little pointless. The film was also nominated for, but didn’t win, Oscars for Best Picture and Director. The sound quality was, when I saw it, abysmal, but it may have just been the theatre I saw it in; all of the credits were out of focus and about five minutes in the lights went on and the film stopped. At least if you see it on DVD you should be able to flip the subtitles on and not have a monkey playing with the DVD remote.
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They wanted their costume back on the set of The
Guyver. |
Awards and complaints aside, Shanghai Express is entertainingly romantic and melodramatic, despite the fact that it takes Captain Harvey so long to click on to anything. In fact, partly because of that. One of the joys of old melodramas is the convoluted plot devices required to set up big romantic endings. It’s something that, for a reason I’m not sure of, you can only get me to swallow in black and white with old style acting. On the whole, the idea of a train load of ex pats travelling almost oblivious through a war isn’t give the satirical treatment it seems to beg for. Despite the other passengers being pretty amusing, I could never quite buy into the film's focus. It's like a lot of modern films set during wars (Cold Mountain, for example), I found myself a lot more interested in the story going on in the background.
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