Shanghai Express (film)
| Shanghai Express | |
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| Directed by | Josef von Sternberg |
| Produced by | Adolph Zukor |
| Written by |
Jules Furthman Harry Hervey (story) |
| Based on | "Sky Over China" aka "China Pass" unpublished novel by Harry Hervey |
| Starring |
Marlene Dietrich Clive Brook Anna May Wong |
| Music by | W. Franke Harling Rudolph G. Kopp |
| Cinematography |
Lee Garmes James Wong Howe |
| Edited by | Frank Sullivan |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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80 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English (primarily), German, French, Mandarin |
| Box office | $3.7 million |
Shanghai Express is a 1932 American Pre-Code film directed by Josef von Sternberg, starring Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, and Warner Oland. It was written by Jules Furthman, based on a 1931 story by Harry Hervey. Shanghai Express was the fourth of seven films von Sternberg and Dietrich made together.
Shanghai Express was released during the midst of the Great Depression. The film was a huge hit with the public, grossing $3.7 million in its initial screenings in the United States alone, becoming the biggest financial success of the Dietrich-von Sternberg collaborations, and was the highest-grossing movie of 1932, surpassing the all-star Grand Hotel.
Shanghai Express was remade as Night Plane from Chungking (1942) and Peking Express (1951).
In 1931, China is embroiled in a civil war. Friends of British Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey (Clive Brook) envy him because the fabulously notorious Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) is a fellow passenger on the express train from Beiping to Shanghai. Since the name means nothing to him, they inform him that she is a "coaster" or "woman who lives by her wits along the China coast" – in other words, a courtesan. On the journey, Harvey encounters Lily, who turns out to be his former lover, Magdalen. Five years earlier, she had played a trick on Harvey to gauge his love for her, but it backfired and he left her. She frankly informs him that, in the interim, "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily." When Lily makes it clear that she still cares deeply for him, it becomes apparent that his feelings also have not changed, and he shows her the watch she gave him with her photograph still in it.
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