Shanghai Express

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Josef von Sternberg directs. Lee Garmes behind the camera. Karl Hajos scores. Frank Sullivan cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Cantonese, English, French, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 182 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 294 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Cantonese, English, French, German.
• 4Directed by Josef von Sternberg, shot by Lee Garmes. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Karl Hajos. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Frank Sullivan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Marlene Dietrich and Clive Brook and Anna May Wong carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "Many Men Had Loved Her -- but only one had been loved in return!".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0023458 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 12 themes, including "prostitute", "rape", "china", "shanghai, china".

The technical file

Cinematography

Lee Garmes

Original score

Karl Hajos

Editing

Frank Sullivan

Costume design

Travis Banton

Runtime

82 min · 1h 22m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

Shanghai Express (1932) ↗

Also by

Josef von Sternberg

• 
  The Masked Bride

  1925 · ★ 10.0
• 
  I, Claudius

  1937 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Exquisite Sinner

  1926 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Sergeant Madden

  1939 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Last Command

  1928 · ★ 7.4
• 
  The Blue Angel

  1930 · ★ 7.3

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  AFS Essential Cinema: Shanghai Express | Presented by MUBI

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Shanghai Express (1932) trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2020-04-14
  ★ 8/10

  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. 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

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2024-07-08
  ★ 7/10

  Amidst the civil war in 1930s China, a train is travelling from Peking to Shanghai carrying a disparate group of passengers that includes the infamous "Shanghai Lily" (Marlene Dietrich) and "Doc" (Clive Brook) who is on his way to perform surgery on a mandarin. The two have a past, and he reckons she is still a selfish woman quite capable of doing whatever is necessary to look after number one. That view changes when the train is stopped by guerrillas and he is taken hostage. With "Chang" (Warner Oland) now in charge, things are a great deal more perilous for everyone and "Lily" has to use all her feminine wiles and guile to keep her and the doctor as safe as she can in the face of a brutal and shrewd enemy. Dietrich is on good form here and there's an engaging degree of chemistry between her and Brook, but it was actually Oland who stole this for me as the truly malevolent soldier who knew no boundaries of human decency when it came to inflicting pain and torture on the unwitting passengers. As ever, Von Sternberg and the camera could make us fall in love with her reading of the phone book, and this is lit and paced in quite a menacingly intriguing fashion engendering a real sense of intensity as it progresses to it's not so predictable denouement. Well worth a watch on a big screen if you can - Dietrich positively glows and has no songs to fall back on.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Paramount Pictures

  US

Key crew

• Costume DesignTravis Banton
• EditorFrank Sullivan
• Art DirectionHans Dreier
• Executive ProducerAdolph Zukor
• Additional PhotographyJames Wong Howe
• OrchestratorHerman Hand
• Set DesignerRichard Kollorsz
• Still PhotographerOtto Dyar
• SoundHarry D. Mills
• PresenterAdolph Zukor
• Assistant CameraMilton Bridenbecker
• Second Assistant CameraRoy Clark
• CostumerTravis Banton
• CostumerRené Hubert
• Technical AdvisorTom Gubbins
• Second Assistant CameraDaniel L. Fapp
• Second Assistant CameraWarren Lynch
• GafferHomer Plannette
• Assistant CameraWarner Cruze
• Still PhotographerJunius Estep
• ProducerAdolph Zukor

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• prostitute
• rape
• china
• shanghai, china
• rebel
• ex-lover
• insurgence
• chinese civil war
• black and white
• beijing, china
• pre-code
• based on short story

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1932-02-04· Los Angeles, California
• Theatrical (limited)1932-02-17· New York City, New York
• Theatrical1932-02-12

Also known as

International titles

• O Expresso de XangaiBR
• Schanghai-ExpressDE
• El expreso de ShanghaiAR
• 上海特急JP