Shanghai Express (1932)
Shanghai Express (1932)
Marlene Dietrich, the woman that you are...
Don't you find respectable people terribly... dull?
Shanghai Express (1932) - watched 8/30/24
Director: Josef von Sternberg
Writer: Jules Furthman
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland
Available to watch on archive.org
First Time Watch? Yes
What causes a movie to break through and become known as a true classic? Does it need to have a specific quality? Does it need to have just the right cast, the right director? Does it depend on genre? Or is it entirely dependent on the vibes of the time it was released, the whims of its audience to become revered and “classic”?
These are questions I’m ruminating on as I think about Shanghai Express. It’s definitely a film I’d heard of prior to starting this project, but it doesn’t seem to be brought up often when we’re talking about all-time great early films. This is a bit shocking and puzzling to me, because this movie fucks.
Think about it—how many times have you heard the line “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid,” versus any of the simple, yet poignant and beautiful lines from Shanghai Express? One of the last lines, “There's no one here but you and I,” hits like a ton of bricks after everything the characters have been through together during the course of the film. The script overall is a stunner, and it deserves the same attention that many of its contemporaries have received.
For my money, Shanghai Express should be right up there with the likes of Casablanca in terms of great, enduring, classic romantic films, especially considering Shanghai came out a whole decade before, and the central love story is just as, if not more compelling than that of Rick and Ilsa.
…This is where I admit that I might have a slight bias against Casablanca, a film I had to watch a few too many times in film school.1 I like it fine, okay? But there’s something about Shanghai Express that’s left a bigger impact on me, practically embedded itself in me. Probably the way Marlene Dietrich smokes a cigarette.
You only had my interest before, now you have my admiration.
In 1931, during the Chinese Civil War, travelers board a train from Peiping to Shanghai. Those travelers include: Donald "Doc" Harvey (Clive Brook), a British Captain. Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) and Hui Fei (Anna May Wong), two sex workers. Reverend Carmichael (Lawrence Grant), a Christian missionary. Sam Salt (Eugene Pallette) and Eric Baum (Gustav von Seyffertitz), a gambler and an opium dealer, respectively. Mrs. Haggerty (Louise Closser Hale), a boarding house keeper who sneaks her dog on the train. Major Lenard (Émile Chautard), a French officer. And Henry Chang (Warner Oland), an Asian-European man who turns out to be a member of the rebel army.
Five years prior, Doc and Shanghai Lily, whom he knows as Madeline, were in a relationship. She had played a trick on him to “test” his love for her, but this trick backfired and he left her. They both still love each other (Doc even still wears a watch that Lily had given him), but are still too wounded by their past together to reconcile.
During a routine stop, Chinese soldiers command the passengers to disembark so that they can inspect the train and check everyone’s passports. They end up capturing one of Chang’s fellow rebel army soldiers, after which Chang sends out a telegram to set up a takeover at the next stop. The train is commandeered by the rebel army as ordered, with Chang as their leader. Chang takes Doc hostage in exchange for his comrade, deeming him important enough to use as leverage.
Chang propositions Lily, but she refuses, claiming that she is reformed. Overhearing their interaction, Doc breaks in to Chang’s quarters and knocks him down—Chang does not retaliate, needing to keep Doc alive. He instead takes Hui Fei to his palace, where he assaults her. Chang’s aide arrives in exchange for Doc, at which point he tells Lily that he plans to blind Doc in revenge for attacking him. Unable to bear this, Lily agrees to go to the palace with Chang. Doc is then released, unharmed and unaware of the sacrifice Lily has just made for him.
Before Chang can act on Lily’s offer, Hui Fei breaks into Chang’s quarters and stabs him to death. Reverend Carmichael speaks to Lily alone, and convinces her to confide in him, particularly about how she ultimately came to save Doc. She swears him to secrecy, which he keeps, but now having a change of heart about Lily, he goes to Doc and tells him that she is a good person, and that her love for him is genuine.
Upon their arrival in Shanghai, the travelers disperse. Doc and Lily reconnect, and he asks for her forgiveness for not having faith in her. They share a passionate kiss as a crowd of travelers passes by them.
I could love a woman like you.
This. Is. ✨Cinema.✨
Let me just clear the air right off the jump: Shanghai Express is not without its problems. There’s the casting of Warner Oland, a Swedish-American with no confirmed Asian lineage, as a half-Asian man. And I don’t love the idea of a woman sacrificing her body to save the life of a man, especially one who has continually rejected and hurt her. And the opening credits made me nervous, dolls. Knowing this was made in the early 30s, aka not the most racially sensitive of times, I was fully expecting this movie to be kind of a, well… trainwreck.2 So I was at least mildly comforted by the fact that this movie didn’t… go off the rails.3 It could have been a lot worse, and the pleasantly surprising lack of racial insensitivity enabled me to get lost in the narrative and the artistry, to enjoy it more. But trust, it’s not lost on me that the woman who ends up getting assaulted happened to be the only Asian woman in the cast. I’ve said it before and I’ll never stop saying it: I wanted better for Anna May Wong.
These quibbles aside, I was fully seduced by this movie. I first was lured in by the lovely, crisp sound design. Something about the dang chugga-chuggas and repetitive click-clacking of the train tracks… nothing beats it! The performances are entrancing, particularly those of Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong. Women in this era were simply acting circles around the fellas, I must say.
And finally—the cinematography. I mean… I don’t think there has been a Best Picture nominee so far that looks nearly as gorgeous as Shanghai Express. Director Josef von Sternberg and cinematographer Lee Garmes set a new, sky-high standard for how movies can—and arguably, should—look. Their work with light and shadows perfectly reflects the intrigue, the angst, the and the moral ambiguity of the story and its characters.
This film also strikes me as the first Best Picture nominee so far, to my recollection, that features women characters who aren’t just wives, or accessories to men. Despite the main plot point being a romance, the women in this story have agency and fully realized lives apart from the men. And the men fucking hate that, of course, as evidenced by their disdain for Lily and Hui Fei being sex workers. It’s far from a feminist text, but for 1932, it feels like we’re getting somewhere. Regardless, Dietrich and Wong’s performances had me hooked. I could watch these two women eat soup for two hours, I don’t care, just give me more. Would literally do anything for them!!
So maybe Shanghai Express hasn’t exactly gotten the flowers it deserves from the masses, but I think I’m ready to consider this one of my personal classics. So suck on that, Michael Curtiz!!
When I needed your faith, you withheld it. And now when I don't need it, and don't deserve it, you give it to me.
Quick Facts:
Nominated for 3 Academy Awards, won 1
Best Picture
Best Director (Josef von Sternbeg)
Best Cinematography (Lee Garmes, won, which is obviously correct)
Story based on Henry Hervey's "Sky Over China" (or "China Pass"), which was loosely based on the Lincheng Incident
An iconic shot of Marlene Dietrich on set, lit from above, using the “butterfly lighting” technique, inspired the equally iconic cover art for Queen’s Queen II album.
Stray Observations:
✨Chiaroscuro✨would be a beautiful name for a baby. Or a drag queen. Or a baby drag queen.
Omg MOVE, chickens!!
I really want to travel by train, damn. It looks so luxurious and romantic.
I really love the sound design! Great quality for its time.
Marlene Dietrich is SO good. So sexy. So pre-code sexy.
Anna May Wong is also spectacular. I love women!!!
First Best Picture nominee that I would classify as ~intriguing.~
This should be up there with Casablanca as far as great romances go. Marlene Dietrich and Clive Brook have great chemistry.
Script is fuckinnnnn gorgeous
Marlene Dietrich is a very beautiful bird.
That smooch at the end! Why is it hiding from the camera? Show me! Show me the smooch!!
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Next Up: The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
At a state school!!!
Sorry sorry I’m sorry!!
I’m SO sorry!!!