What a monument to Marlene Dietrich Josef von Sternberg has made. We first see her backlighted and in shadow entering a train compartment. She's in a long black dress adorned with these black feathers. She pulls down the compartment's curtains so we can't see her at all. The viewer is less enchanted than curious, as in, "Who the hell is this supposed to be?" She's supposed to be Shanghai Lilly, notorious hooker of the China coast. Yes, "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lilly." Von Sternberg lights her carefully so her facial features seem to be aglow in the darkness. Her wardrobe throughout is indescribable, a congeries of white feathers, gaudy robes, draped dresses, a Chinese silk garment with a design that evokes the rocket-filled sky over Fort McHenry when it was bombarded by the British.
And, boy, does she carry around a reputation along with all of her frills. The stiff British army doctor that she once had an affair with treats her with disdain, although she still loves him desperately. And her terpitude shimmers in the veil of her badinage. A haughty old lady informs Dietrich that she runs a respectable boarding house in Shanghai. "Vot kind of a house did you say it vuz?" "A BOARDING house!" replies the snooty old lady. (It's a joke. Dietrich is playing with the expression "bawdy" house.)
The other passengers are all ergonomically sketched in. A dodgy German invalid who claims to be dealing in coal but has a finger or two in an opium pie. (He pays for it.) A blubbery American gambler. A mysterious ur-Chinese woman, probably another hooker, wanted by the cops. A huffy reverend out of Somerset Maugham. A French officer who turns out to be a phony.
The sets are deliciously Hollywood. The train is going from Beijing to Shanghai but is waylaid by "rebels" led by the half-Chinese Warner Oland, actually a Swede who was later to play Charlie Chan in a couple of features. Oland wants to hold the British doctor, Clive Brook, hostage. When Oland's demand is granted, he's going to release the arrogant doc but not before blinding him with a hot poker. Dietrich dissuades the rebel chief by the simple expedient of agreeing to run away with him. Events intervene and a happy ending follows.
Dietrich's acting is measured in pace and deliberately sultry. It comes across as stilted compared to, say, her earlier naturalistic performance in "Der Blaue Engel." But then everyone's performance is overdrawn so hers doesn't stand out as especially artificial.
I loved the sets. It's one of those movies that take place in an exotic setting, kind of like "China Seas", so some of the men wear pith helmets, and the rooms are partitioned by gauze curtains. I kept waiting for the beaded curtains but they never made an appearance. Disappointing. I like train movies too. Everything rocks back and forth like a cradle and the ricketing rumble of the iron wheels on the iron tracks sing a lullaby. Everything is crowded together but stable too. After all, what can go wrong on a train? Unless it's stopped and taken over by rag tag rebels?
And, boy, does she carry around a reputation along with all of her frills. The stiff British army doctor that she once had an affair with treats her with disdain, although she still loves him desperately. And her terpitude shimmers in the veil of her badinage. A haughty old lady informs Dietrich that she runs a respectable boarding house in Shanghai. "Vot kind of a house did you say it vuz?" "A BOARDING house!" replies the snooty old lady. (It's a joke. Dietrich is playing with the expression "bawdy" house.)
The other passengers are all ergonomically sketched in. A dodgy German invalid who claims to be dealing in coal but has a finger or two in an opium pie. (He pays for it.) A blubbery American gambler. A mysterious ur-Chinese woman, probably another hooker, wanted by the cops. A huffy reverend out of Somerset Maugham. A French officer who turns out to be a phony.
The sets are deliciously Hollywood. The train is going from Beijing to Shanghai but is waylaid by "rebels" led by the half-Chinese Warner Oland, actually a Swede who was later to play Charlie Chan in a couple of features. Oland wants to hold the British doctor, Clive Brook, hostage. When Oland's demand is granted, he's going to release the arrogant doc but not before blinding him with a hot poker. Dietrich dissuades the rebel chief by the simple expedient of agreeing to run away with him. Events intervene and a happy ending follows.
Dietrich's acting is measured in pace and deliberately sultry. It comes across as stilted compared to, say, her earlier naturalistic performance in "Der Blaue Engel." But then everyone's performance is overdrawn so hers doesn't stand out as especially artificial.
I loved the sets. It's one of those movies that take place in an exotic setting, kind of like "China Seas", so some of the men wear pith helmets, and the rooms are partitioned by gauze curtains. I kept waiting for the beaded curtains but they never made an appearance. Disappointing. I like train movies too. Everything rocks back and forth like a cradle and the ricketing rumble of the iron wheels on the iron tracks sing a lullaby. Everything is crowded together but stable too. After all, what can go wrong on a train? Unless it's stopped and taken over by rag tag rebels?