In the male dominated film world, we often tend to focus on famous and frequent collaborations between male actors and male directors. Collaborations like John Ford and John Wayne (14 films). John Huston and Humphrey Bogart (6 films). David Lean and Alec Guinness (6 films). Martin Scorsese with Robert DeNiro (10 films) and Leonardo DiCaprio (6 films). Or Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford (7 films). One of the more famous collaborations occurred during the dawn of talking pictures. This collaboration was between a male director and a female actress. It was Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich.
Sternberg and Dietrich would make seven films together including THE BLUE ANGEL (1930), MOROCCO (1930), BLONDE VENUS (1932), and most famously SHANGHAI EXPRESS (1932). Sternberg discovered Dietrich performing in a German cabaret show and transformed her into a movie star (they also became lovers). Complicating matters is that Dietrich would have love affairs with many of her leading men including Gary Cooper and Adolphe Menjou (MOROCCO) and James Stewart (DESTRY RIDES AGAIN). Sternberg and Dietrich's professional and private relationship would come to an end after THE SCARLETT EMPRESS (1934). Dietrich's star was brightest in the 1930s yet her career continued successfully all the way to the early 1960s. Dietrich would collaborate with many other great directors including Billy Wilder (A FOREIGN AFFAIR, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION), Alfred Hitchcock (STAGE FRIGHT), Fritz Lang (RANCHO NOTORIOUS), and Orson Welles (TOUCH OF EVIL). Sternberg's career would suffer without his muse Dietrich. Nonetheless, Sternberg directed (or co-directed) some interesting projects including CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (1935), he directed reshoots for King Vidor's DUEL IN THE SUN (1944), and he directed most of the Asian themed film noir MACAO (1952) starring Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell (Sternberg was fired by producer Howard Hughes and reshoots were done by Nicholas Ray, Robert Stevenson, and actor Mel Ferrer).
With a screenplay by Howard Hawks favorite screenwriter Jules Furthman (THE BIG SLEEP, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT) based on the short story Sky Over China by Harry Hervey and directed by Josef von Sternberg, SHANGHAI EXPRESS begins not in Shanghai but the Peiping (aka Peking), China train station in the midst of a civil war. We meet all the key players as they board the train to Shanghai: American gambler Sam Salt (Eugene Pallette), dog loving, boardinghouse owner Mrs. Haggerty (Louise Closser Hale), missionary Reverend Carmichael (Lawrence Grant), French Officer Major Lenard (Emile Chautard), German businessman Eric Baum (Gustav von Seyffertiz), the mysterious Eurasian Henry Chang (Warner Oland), British Officer Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey (Clive Brook), exotic Chinese "coaster" aka prostitute Hui Fei (Anna May Wong), and the infamous and beautiful black veiled Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) aka "the Notorious White Flower of China", another lady of the evening.
The Shanghai Express departs Peiping. During a delay in transit to clear the tracks of cows and chickens, Doc and Lily run into each other. Shanghai Lily (Doc knew her as Madeline) was Doc's old flame until he broke up with her five years earlier. Doc is taken aback that she has turned to prostitution since their breakup. Doc tells Lily "I wish you could tell me there'd been no other men." Lily replies "I wish I could Doc, but five years in China is a long time." At the next stop, the Shanghai Express is stopped and searched by the Chinese army. Passports are inspected. The Chinese army take into custody a suspected rebel spy named Li Fung (Minoru Nishida). While passengers reembark onto the train, a shadowy figure sends a teletype message to the revolutionaries that Fung has been captured. The Shanghai Express must be delayed at the next stop in Te-Shan.
Doc and Lily catch up on their lives. Lily notices Doc still has the watch she gave him. Doc admits he has not found love since their breakup. A telegram arrives for Lily from a client, possibly a lover. She tears it up in front of Doc. The Shanghai Express pulls into the next village where the rebels wait in the shadows. Gunfire erupts and the Chinese soldiers sitting atop the train cars are mowed down by machine gun. The passengers are forced to disembark again. The rebels bring each passenger to a room to be questioned. Waiting to interrogate each of them is the enigmatic Henry Chang, leader of the revolutionary forces fighting the Chinese army. Chang's looking for a hostage to trade for his right-hand man man Fung. Chang tortures the German Baum for making derogatory remarks toward the Chinese. When Doc tells Chang he's headed to Shanghai to perform an important surgery, Chang decides to make Doc his hostage. The warlord sends a message to the British Embassy in Shanghai to arrange to have Fung brought to him in exchange for Captain "Doc" Harvey.
Chang questions Lily next and offers to take her to his palace. Chang grabs Lily who rejects his advances. Held in a room next door, Doc overhears the rebel leader and bursts through the door, punching Chang. In retaliation, Fung has Hui Fei brought to him and rapes her (off screen). With negotiations complete, a train with British diplomats and the spy Fung depart to rendezvous with Chang. Hui Fei contemplates suicide by knife for what Chang did to her. Lily steps in and stops her. Chang's jealous and angry with Doc for striking him and plots to blind Doc before releasing him. Lily offers to go to Chang's palace in exchange for Doc's safety. The train arrives. British diplomat Mr. Albright (Claude King) hands over Fung. Chang reluctantly releases Doc. Doc notices that Lily's luggage has been taken off the train. Chang reveals that Lily will be staying with him. While the foreign passengers prepare to board the train to Shanghai, Hui Fei emerges from the shadows and stabs Chang to death. Doc retrieves Lily and the train pushes off from the platform. The Shanghai Express finally reaches Shanghai. Doc catches Lily trying to buy another watch for him. He asks Lily for a second chance. They kiss passionately.
Part of the fun in watching SHANGHAI EXPRESS is that most of the passengers on the train have a secret. The character with the biggest secret (and one that's revealed early in the film) turns out to be Mr. Chang who's the leader of the rebels fighting the Chinese army. German businessman Baum's secret is he trades in the illegal drug opium not coal as he tells Chang. Baum reveals his secret under intense interrogation by Chang and he's branded for insulting Chang. Under scrutiny by Chang, it's revealed Major Lenard has not been in the French army for a long time even though he still wears a uniform. A dishonorable discharge perhaps. Mrs. Haggerty tries to sneak her dog into first class. A porter catches her and the dog is placed in the cargo section. During the rebel takeover of the train, Mrs. Haggerty will retrieve her prized pooch. When Doc Harvey runs into his old flame Madeline, he's not aware that she's the infamous "Shanghai Lily." Lily will reveal her secret to Doc early in the journey, providing the rest of SHANGHAI EXPRESS for the two former lovers to reconcile during the turmoil. Chinese prostitute Hui Fei will nearly kill herself over her rape by Chang. Lily will suspect her secret when she stops Fei from plunging a knife into her heart. Fei will have her revenge.
The arc of Shanghai Lily in SHANGHAI EXPRESS is a joy to watch. She begins the adventure a "fallen woman", a courtesan providing her services to rich men up and down the Chinese coast. Her life seems romantically empty. When she bumps into her old beau Doc Harvey on the Shanghai Express, she gets a second chance to win back her true and only love (Lily had tried to make Doc jealous five years earlier to test his love for her. Doc left her over the stunt). Lily's hopes (and eyebrows) raise when she notices Doc still wears the watch she bought him (with her photo inside). She stands up to Chang who makes overtures toward her until Doc busts through the adjacent door and protects her virtue by decking Chang. Lily will return the favor (unbeknownst to Doc) by offering to depart with Chang to his jungle fortress if he will not burn Doc's eyes out for insulting Chang. By the film's end, Lily and Doc are ready to give love another try. They were always meant for each other.
The females Lily and Hui Fei are the most heroic characters in SHANGHAI EXPRESS (with Doc Harvey the one heroic male figure). When Lily learns that Chang plans on maiming Doc for humiliating the warlord before turning him back over to the British and Chinese authorities, Lily's willing to sacrifice herself to Chang for Doc's safety. Lily with Reverend Carmichael's recommendation even turns to prayer to save his love. "I think you're right, if God is still on speaking terms with me," she tells the Reverend. Fei will risk her life by seeking vengeance on Chang. Fei's actions not only free herself physically and emotionally from the sexual predator Chang, it provides the impetus for the remaining characters to safely board the train and continue on to Shanghai.
From the moment Marlene Dietrich as Shanghai Lily lifts the black veil from her face as she boards the Shanghai Express, you can see why her leading men, her director, and audiences fell head over heels in love with the Teutonic beauty. Although Director of Photography Lee Garmes won an Academy Award for Cinematography for SHANGHAI EXPRESS, Dietrich claimed in her autobiography that Director Sternberg and not Garmes did most of the camerawork. Whichever man was involved, the deep soft focus and black and white photography on Dietrich is gorgeous (Madonna would recreate one of Dietrich's poses in her music video Vogue). SHANGHAI EXPRESS's visuals are German Expressionistic. Light and shadow, smoke, steam, shots through door slats and translucent curtains dazzle the eye. Sternberg incorporates a couple of long tracking shots at the beginning, signaling SHANGHAI will not be a static film. Sternberg uses sound to great effect too. In SHANGHAI EXPRESS'S most suspenseful sequence as Fei kills Chang and Doc searches for Lily amongst the chaos, Sternberg shuns music and uses the train's bell like a metronome, each toll a warning for the passengers to get back on the train and depart before the rebels regroup after the death of their leader.
Upon first viewing, Clive Brook who plays Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey seems too upper stiff lip and British to have been Shanghai Lily's lover. Watch it again and Brook grows on you. Doc still loves Lily intensely upon their reconnection. Doc internalizes his feelings for Lily for most of SHANGHAI EXPRESS until he overhears Chang making unwelcome advances toward her. Doc's crashing through the door and punching Chang is one of the highlights of the film (to be followed by Hui Fei's revenge on Chang). SHANGHAI EXPRESS'S surprise is watching Doc and Lily fall in love again. Lily had become a fallen angel after she broke up with Doc. She offers to forfeit her freedom to have Doc released from Chang's clutches. Doc stands up for Lily's honor twice: once when Reverend Carmichael tries to put down Lily for her profession and later punching Chang to protect Lily's honor. Brook mostly worked in Great Britain during his film career and may have played the first talking Sherlock Holmes in William K. Howard's SHERLOCK HOLMES (1932).
Anna May Wong who plays the exotic prostitute Hui Fei is recognized as one of the first Chinese-American film stars in cinema. Hui Fei's relationship to Shanghai Lily is as mysterious as Fei herself. They are both "coasters" i.e. prostitutes. Is Fei a contemporary of Lily, a protege, or possibly even a lover? It might just be a coincidence they're on the same train. There's an unspoken bond between the two women. Lily knows what Chang did to Fei and stops her from killing herself. Fei's shame and rage will bring her to kill Chang, allowing Doc, Lily, and the rest of the passengers to escape on the "Express" back to Shanghai. Wong would face racism throughout her career where "Asian" roles she was clearly perfect for went to better known Caucasian actresses like Myrna Loy. Wong's performance in SHANGHAI EXPRESS is her best. Other films to catch Wong in include Lloyd Corrigan's DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON (1931) with SHANGHAI co-star Warner Oland and Arthur Lubin's film noir IMPACT (1949).
Besides Dietrich, the second most recognizable face in SHANGHAI EXPRESS is Warner Oland who plays the diabolical rebel leader Henry Chang. Oland would rise to greater fame as Oriental sleuth Charlie Chan in a series of Charlie Chan mysteries for Fox in the 1930s including CHARLIE CHAN IN SHANGHAI (1935). For SHANGHAI EXPRESS, Oland plays a darker character than the affable Chan. At the start of the film, Chang has an international air to him that quickly morphs into a xenophobic, misogynistic coldness when he's revealed to be the leader of the bandits. Chang's disdain for the western world (except for Shanghai Lily) is palatable. Horror fans will remember Oland as the botanist who bites and turns Henry Hull into a werewolf in Stuart Walker's WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935). Ironically, even though Oland played numerous Asian characters throughout his brief career ( he died in 1938 from pneumonia) he was of Swedish descent with no known Asian origins.
Providing the comedy relief for SHANGHAI EXPRESS is one of my favorite characters actors, the bullfrog voiced Eugene Pallette as American gambler Sam Salt. Salt wants to bet on every single thing that happens in SHANGHAI EXPRESS. Salt's secret? The diamonds he wears are fake. He tells Mrs. Haggerty the real ones are in a Shanghai hotel safe. But is Salt real or a fraud? We're never sure. Other great Pallette performances include as Friar Tuck in Michael Curtiz's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1937) and as Mr. Pike in Preston Sturges THE LADY EVE (1941) with Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.
There's something about the word "express" in a movie that conjures up locomotive intrigue, adventure, movement, and possibly even murder. Just the title SHANGHAI EXPRESS caught my attention immediately. Hollywood has been intrigued by "express" as well, providing the title for many different films. Film noir director Jacques Tourneur (OUT OF THE PAST) made BERLIN EXPRESS (1948) starring Merle Oberon and Robert Ryan involved in a Nazi assassination plot on a train Post World War II. Mark Robson's VON RYAN'S EXPRESS (1965) takes place in Italy during World War II. A group of British and American POWs led by Frank Sinatra flee ala THE GREAT ESCAPE from their German captors on a hijacked locomotive. One of the most famous trains in the world is the Paris to Istanbul Orient Express, the setting for Agatha Christie's murder mystery whodunit novel made into two star studded motion pictures. The original MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) was directed by Sidney Lumet and the more recent 2017 version directed by Kenneth Branagh who also plays Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Mark Robson's final film (he died during post production) would be another "express" adventure film called AVALANCHE EXPRESS (1979) starring Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw (who also died before the film was released), and football great Joe Namath (yes that Joe Namath). Instead of Nazis in Robson's BERLIN EXPRESS, AVALANCHE EXPRESS'S plot involves a CIA agent smuggling out a KGB defector on the Atlantic Express (but avalanches are involved). SHANGHAI EXPRESS was so good and successful that Hollywood remade it not once but two times. The first remake Ralph Murphy's NIGHT PLANE FROM CHUNGKING (1943) starring Robert Preston, Ellen Drew, and Otto Kruger reimagines the plot on both a bus and later a plane traveling from China to India. The more authentic remake would come eight years later in William Dieterle's PEKING EXPRESS (1951) starring Joseph Cotten, Corinne Calvet, and Edmund Gwenn (MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET) about a group of refugees fleeing Communist China who are attacked by outlaws on a train. Neither remakes leading lady would come close to Dietrich's performance.
Some final SHANGHAI EXPRESS tidbits. A thousand Chinese extras were used to provide the film's foreign atmosphere. The language heard in the film is Cantonese. Director Sternberg would later make MACAO with numerous Asian extras and 2nd Unit footage shot by a cameraman of the Chinese island of Macao. SHANGHAI EXPRESS was made Pre-Code meaning that the film could get away Dietrich and Wong portraying prostitutes and the pre and post implications of Chang's rape of Fei. If SHANGHAI had been made a year later, Dietrich and Wong's characters would have been changed to dancers or cabaret singers. When the 1986 adventure/romance film SHANGHAI SURPRISE came out with on and off screen couple Sean Penn and Madonna at the time, I assumed it was a remake of SHANGHAI EXPRESS even though I hadn't seen either film. Never assume. Although a period film set in 1938 Shanghai, SHANGHAI SURPRISE has nothing to do with SHANGHAI EXPRESS except for the word "Shanghai". Madonna plays not a prostitute but a missionary.
SHANGHAI EXPRESS would pave the way for more movies about a group of different people thrown into some kind of crisis. Movies like Alfred Hitchcock's THE LADY VANISHES (1938), John Ford's STAGECOACH (1939), Robert Aldrich's THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX (1965), and Ronald Neame's THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) all owe a debt of gratitude to SHANGHAI EXPRESS. SHANGHAI EXPRESS is director Josef von Sternberg and actress Marlene Dietrich at their best, taking us to an alluring part of the world during a tumultuous time in China's history with a love story as fascinating as the events and episodes that occur in the film.
