Shanghai Express (1932)

Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong

Directed by Josef von Sternberg

Available to stream on Internet Archive

This month we are featuring actresses who are known for being "Famous Beauties."

Our first movie pick is Shanghai Express with the unforgettably beautiful and glamorous Marlene Dietrich.

In this classic film, beautiful and infamous Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) encounters her former fiancé Clive Brook, and an eclectic mix of characters on a train, hijacked in the middle of 1931 revolutionary China.

Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express

Why we love it:

This is one of our favorite Pre-Code* films and though it is old, it holds up well and is very watchable. Watch it for the unforgettable photography of Marlene and the fantastic use of lighting on her face.

“Shanghai Express is a favorite Dietrich-von Sternberg collaboration of many fans, smitten with Marlene’s glamorous look and the erotic charge she brings to scenes that might be merely campy in other hands.” (TCM Leading Ladies ed. Frank Miller)

*Pre-Code refers to films made between 1929 (the beginning of sound films) and 1934 before the Motion Picture Production Code was strictly enforced. These films are less censored and more sophisticated than films made after 1934 when the Production Code was made mandatory.

Clive Brook from Photoplay 1931

Marlene Dietrich from Film Lovers' Annual 1932

Anna May Wong from New Movie Magazine 1932

Ad from Photoplay 1932

Fun Facts:

• Shanghai Express was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1932 but lost to Grand Hotel.

• Marlene Dietrich, a stage and silent film actress in 1920's Berlin, was "discovered" by director Josef Von Sternberg and in 1930 appeared in the first full-length German sound film Der Blaue Engel or The Blue Angel which launched her to international stardom. (It was shot simultaneously in German and English so it could be released in both languages.) Shanghai Express, the third Dietrich-Von Sternberg collaboration, is considered the best of their films together. Von Sternberg was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for Shanghai Express.

• The film won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, thanks to Lee Garmes's beautiful use of lighting, particularly the lighting of Marlene Dietrich herself.

Article from Film Lovers' Annual 1932

• Shanghai Express also features Anna May Wong, the first Chinese American movie star. A third generation Chinese American, Wong rose to stardom in her first leading role in the 1922 film The Toll of the Sea (one of the first movies in Technicolor.) Unfortunately she was denied many leading roles because laws at the time prohibited her from kissing a co-star of a different race. She went to Europe and eventually England in order to further her career and achieved great success starring in movies and in a play with young Laurence Olivier. She returned to Hollywood in the 1930's hoping to get better parts and is probably best known for her role in Shanghai Express. Wong was considered a fashion icon of 1920's and 1930's and was voted "World's Best Dressed Woman" in 1934 by the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York. Though she was disappointed in the roles she was offered and was denied the opportunity to be a leading lady, she continued to work in film and television until her death in 1961.

Anna May Wong from Photoplay 1931

Marlene Dietrich and Clive Brook from Photoplay 1932

For many more articles and reviews from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured cocktail:

Sidecar

Created at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris after World War I, apparently for a customer who arrived at the bar in a motorcycle sidecar. (Classic Cocktails)

2 oz (60 ml) brandy

1 oz (30 ml) Cointreau

1 Tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice

Shake ingredients with ice.

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Often served in a glass with a sugar coated rim.

Cheers to the Classics!