Many passengers on the Shanghai Express are more concerned that the notorious Shanghai Lily is on board than the fact that a civil war is going on that may make the trip take more than three days. The British Army doctor, Donald Harvey, knew Lily before she became a famous "coaster." A fellow passenger defines a coaster as "a woman who lives by her wits along the China coast." When Chinese guerrillas stop the train, Dr. Harvey is selected as the hostage. Lily saves him, but c... (Full plot summary below)
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Many passengers on the Shanghai Express are more concerned that the notorious Shanghai Lily is on board than the fact that a civil war is going on that may make the trip take more than three days. The British Army doctor, Donald Harvey, knew Lily before she became a famous "coaster." A fellow passenger defines a coaster as "a woman who lives by her wits along the China coast." When Chinese guerrillas stop the train, Dr. Harvey is selected as the hostage. Lily saves him, but can she make him believe that she really hasn't changed from the woman he loved five years before?
Leave your thoughts about Shanghai Express.
| USA TodayMike ClarkMarlene Dietrich is in full plume in Shanghai Express, literally and figuratively. |
| The New York TimesMordaunt HallIt is by all odds the best picture Josef von Sternberg has directed. |
| EmpireDavid ParkinsonIntriguing and visually atmospheric melodrama with Dietrich doing her sultry thing. |
| Los Angeles TimesJohn AndersonMore action oriented than the other Dietrich-Sternberg films, this 1932 production is nevertheless one of the most elegantly styled. |
| Portland OregonianTed MaharVon Sternberg, who was forever looking for new kinds of stylisation, said that he intended everything in Shanghai Express to have the rhythm of a train. He clearly meant it: the bizarre stop-go cadences of the dialogue delivery are the most blatantly non-naturalistic element, but the overall design and dramatic pacing are equally extraordinary. |
| The GuardianRobert HerringThis melodrama the director weakens by mistaking postponement of event for suspense. But the film has compensating strength in the star, who photographs more beautifully than before and, though she is acted off the screen by Anna May Wong, shows herself unique in Hollywood by being majestically beautiful. |
