SHANGHAI EXPRESS

In the luxurious first class of the Peking-Shanghai train, in a China ravaged by civil war, several respectable-looking travellers take their seats, as well as two high-class prostitutes, Hui Fei (Anna May Wong) and Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich). British officer Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) recognises in Lily a woman he loved some years before and still loves, Magdalen. On the way, the train is stormed and seized by revolutionaries, who demand the immediate release of one of their men in exchange for Harvey, who is taken hostage. At this point, Lily sacrifices herself by offering her favours to the leader of the gang in order to obtain the release of the man she loves. After a tough firefight, the train finally leaves for Shanghai, with Harvey finally realising how much Lily loveshim.
Sternberg builds an exotic melodrama that was hugely successful at the time and focuses around Dietrich’s face, whose face reflects that of a creature constantly living in the half-light and fed by half-light and special effects, thanks to Lee Garmes’ Oscar-winning cinematography. A remake of the film was made in 1951 by William Dieterle, ‘Peking Express’.