Shanghai Express

Released Feb 2, 1932

1 hr. 20 min.

Drama

List

96%

67 Reviews

Tomatometer

79%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In Peking, China, during a civil war, British Capt. Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) meets his old flame Magdalen (Marlene Dietrich) and learns with dismay that she has become a prostitute known as Shanghai Lily. Both are traveling to Shanghai via train, and while they grow reacquainted, they remain unaware that they are traveling with spy and rebel army leader Henry Chang (Warner Oland). On Chang's orders, his forces attack the train, terrorize the passengers and hold Donald hostage.

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Critics Consensus

Buckle up: Marlene Dietrich will inveigle you on the Shanghai Express with her fearlessness and bare-knuckle one-liners in this slick pre-code melodrama.

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Louisa E

I liked the movie's plot, although it could have been a touch faster. I liked the moral of the story, and while the end was predictable, it was well done. I wish they made Chang a bit more menacing, though. What I didn't like about this movie was the acting! Clive Brooks, who I usually really like, was terrible! And Marlene Dietrich wasn't much better. Both were so stilted and corny, and there was no chemistry between them. Maybe I should blame the director for this, as usually they are really good, but wow! It spoiled the movie for me! The only acting I did enjoy was Lawrence Grant. What makes this movie sing is the cinematography and design. The lighting was so well done - so classy and sublime. The outfits were iconic, making Marlene look stunning. 7.2/10.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

05/08/23

Full Review

Michael C

Good for the time I guess. However, nothing exceptional in cinematography (except Marlene Dietrich closeups), story or acting (just Marlene Dietrich being Marlene Dietrich). I have no idea why people think this movie is interesting, it really lacks any interesting plot developments, and the romance is just stupid...a woman who desperately wants a man to trust her love, but gives him no reason to? One thing I noticed was that no one in the movie drank, because the movie was made during prohibition. At that time in China, all the Brits would be downing gin! Yet another unrealistic element in an overall waste of time.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/09/23

Full Review

Murty C

The movie is set in the turbulent times of the Chinese civil wars, and revolves around the mostly-European first class travelers on the Peking-to-Shanghai Express train. The leads are Marlene Dietrich as Shanghai Lily and Clive Brook as Captain Harvey, who are ex-lovers. Since their estrangement, Lily had become a "coaster" or "a woman who lives by her wits". Anna May Wong is another "fallen" woman, a Chinese one. Add a Chinese warlord traveling incognito, a missionary, a gambler, an opium dealer, and a boarding house keeper, and you have all the elements needed for an explosive screenplay. The movie does not disappoint, filled with intense emotional moments as well as dramatic and suspenseful sequences, the excellent ensemble cast delivering fine performances all around. I was particularly mesmerized by the production design and photography - the train station scenes as well the scenes on board with the incessant click-clack of the train all were done masterfully. I was happy to note that the movie was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar (losing to the "Grand Hotel") but did get the Oscar for Cinematography. This is one terrific popcorn movie - don't miss it!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/27/22

Full Review

Audience Member

This film is about a group of European and American first class travelers on a train who are held hostage by a warlord during the Chinese Civil War. It was dubbed Grand Hotel on wheels. Marelene Dietrich gives a great performance and the film is useful as a piece of history. The real events of the 1923 Lincheng incident were more dramatic. The film presents a curious bifurcation on race in that the respectable white characters are seen as both flawed and racist and the film is surprisingly feminist. It's memorable for its stylistic black and white chiaroscuro cinematography.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

georgan g

Marlene Dietrich is SO gorgeous, her outfits SO amazing, and her acting SO engaging that I was entranced. The cinematography clearly deserved the Academy Award it got.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

...an eighty-two minute train ride across contemporary China rife with barely-comprehensible intrigue and a continuous barrage of ornately busy visuals. A passenger train complete with sliding glass doors and lavish interior is the dominant setting. China's then-colonialist division justifies the array of diverse accents and ethnicities in this warped, artificial version of the real thing. Like all of these films, Shanghai Express is a total Hollywood studio-based shoot. Though engaging in racial stereotypes and outright fictions about China, von Sternberg probably employed every actor, extra (and then some) of Chinese descent. Though the whole thing is culturally suspect by today's standards, it's interesting to think that back then, mounting a film like this one in this manner would seem downright progressive. The movie itself is a fair potboiler, but one doesn't board this train for the plot, nor for its destination. It's the journey and the scenery that are everything. Those, and of course the company of fellow travelers.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

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Josef von Sternberg

Director

Marlene Dietrich

Shanghai Lily

Clive Brook

Capt. "Doc" Harvey

Anna May Wong

Hui Fei

Warner Oland

Mr. Henry Chang

Eugene Pallette

Sam Salt

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Jefferson Bell

Miami Herald

Marlene Dietrich's haunting and elusive charm pervades Shanghai Express.

Oct 21, 2022

Full Review

H.H. Niemeyer

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Shanghai Express is a finely made and finely played- picture and stands out, head and shoulders over the other cinemas of the week.

Oct 21, 2022

Full Review

Irene Thirer

New York Daily News

Brook is charmingly English. Miss Wong has tremendous appeal. Pallette and Miss Hale provide the laughs -- many and good ones -- and Oland is the bad man of the piece.

Oct 21, 2022

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...contains exceedingly little in the way of compelling attributes or forward momentum...

Rated: 2/4

May 15, 2023

Full Review

James T. Hamada

The Nippu Jiji (Honolulu)

All aboard the Shanghai Express, everybody! ... It's one grand ride of an hour and 20 minutes -- a ride that is melodramatically entertaining and highly artistic.

Oct 21, 2022

Full Review

Margaret Marshall

The Nation

The device of numberless swift kaleidoscopic shots is, of course, not new. But the vibrancy and freshness of treatment must be credited to the direction of Josef von Sternberg.

Oct 21, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

In Peking, China, during a civil war, British Capt. Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) meets his old flame Magdalen (Marlene Dietrich) and learns with dismay that she has become a prostitute known as Shanghai Lily. Both are traveling to Shanghai via train, and while they grow reacquainted, they remain unaware that they are traveling with spy and rebel army leader Henry Chang (Warner Oland). On Chang's orders, his forces attack the train, terrorize the passengers and hold Donald hostage.

Director: Josef von Sternberg
Screenwriter: Jules Furthman
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 2, 1932, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 8, 2020