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Shanghai Express
Directed by
Josef von Sternberg
Approved
1932
82m
Adventure
,
Drama
,
and more
7.3
96%
79%
Add to Watchlist
A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.
More
Where to Watch Shanghai Express
There are no locations currently available for this title
Cast of Shanghai Express
Marlene Dietrich
Shanghai Lily
Clive Brook
Captain Donald 'Doc' Harvey
Anna May Wong
Hui Fei
Warner Oland
Mr. Henry Chang
Eugene Pallette
Sam Salt
Lawrence Grant
Reverend Carmichael
Louise Closser Hale
Mrs. Haggerty
Gustav von Seyffertitz
Eric Baum
Émile Chautard
Major Lenard
George Blagoi
Minor Role (uncredited)
Leonard Carey
Carey (uncredited)
George Chung
Chinese Soldier (uncredited)
Wong Chung
Chinese Officer Checking Passports (uncredited)
Jack Deery
British Officer at Shanghai (uncredited)
Herbert Evans
British Railway Officer (uncredited)
Willie Fung
Train Engineer (uncredited)
Tom Gubbins
Chinese Officer (uncredited)
Forrester Harvey
Peiping Ticket Agent (uncredited)
Claude King
Mr. Albright (uncredited)
James B. Leong
A Rebel (uncredited)
Miki Morita
Chinese Officer (uncredited)
Minoru Nishida
Li Fung (uncredited)
Victor Wong
Chinese Officer (uncredited)
Ura Mita
Chinese Woman (uncredited)
Josef von Sternberg
Director
Jules Furthman
Writer
Harry Hervey
Writer
Adolph Zukor
Producer
Shanghai Express Ratings & Reviews
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
H.H. Niemeyer
Shanghai Express is a finely made and finely played- picture and stands out, head and shoulders over the other cinemas of the week.
Baltimore Sun
Donald Kirkley
From this point on the plot turns on time-worn melodramatic situation, but this is handled so cleverly and acted with such competence by [the cast] that it nevertheless holds attention.
Washington Star
E. de S. Melcher
The picture itself ranks high among the really artistic creations that the screen has put forth -- and this through the uncanny direction of Josef von Sternberg, who has vitalized it into something far removed from the ordinary.
News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
Nicholas Van Pelt
To those who bear on their hearts "Marlene" the picture is one not to be missed. Others will find it reasonably entertaining.
New York Daily News
Irene Thirer
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.
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Martin Dickstein
The contributory characterizations by Lawrence Grant, Louise Closser Hale, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Emile Chautard and Anna May Wong are as nearly perfect as they can be.
Los Angeles Times
Philip K. Scheuer
Von Sternberg, by sheer hypnosis, chicanery, or what you will, continues to make every gesture, every spoken monosyllable, seem momentously important to the welfare of his pictures.
Kansas City Star
Jack Moffitt
If you want a lot of film for your money, stay through to the end. If you prefer quality to quantity, get up when they fade out the scene of Anna May Wong playing solitaire.
Illustrated Daily News (Los Angeles)
Eleanor Barnes
Anna May Wong... who achieved such fame on the London stage, was easily the outstanding performer in the cast.
Detroit Free Press
James S. Pooler
That suffices for the plot. The real merit of the picture lies in von Sternberg's deft work and the sharp characterizations of the passengers. Never does the director let the camera grow listless.
Salt Lake Tribune
SLTrib Staff
Shanghai Express is distinctly out of the beaten track. It is novel, romantic entertainment of the most appealing type.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Inquirer Staff
No matter how slowly Mr. von Sternberg may unfold his story his artistic perception is always evident, his handling of detail is masterly and his films fairly bristle with imaginative effects.
Chicago Tribune
Mae Tinee
Marlene Dietrich. who did not acquire the name of Shanghai Lily by loving but one man, gives a brilliant performance and wins much sympathy for the character she portrays.
The New Yorker
Pauline Kael
Directed by Josef von Sternberg, this movie has style -- a triumphant fusion of sin, glamour, shamelessness, art, and, perhaps, a furtive sense of humor.
Boston Globe
Globe Staff
Amazingly beautiful as to photography, and effective as to characterization, Shanghai Express... proved to be a striking photoplay of varying excellence.
Filmspotting
Adam Kempenaar
Peak Dietrich merging with peak von Sternberg... Each artist and their respective styles coming together to create something distinct and dazzling.
TIME Magazine
TIME Staff
Shanghai Express is a picture of the new school, and when Marlene Dietrich promises Warner Oland to visit him at his castle if he will refrain from destroying Clive Brook's eyesight with a red hot poker, you will not find the situation banal.
Variety
Sid Silverman
Josef von Sternberg, the director, has made this effort interesting through a definite command of the lens. As to plot structure and dialog, Shanghai Express runs much too close to old meller and serial themes to command real attention.
New York Times
Mordaunt Hall
It is by all odds the best picture Josef von Sternberg has directed.
Chicago Reader
Dave Kehr
More action oriented than the other Dietrich-Sternberg films, this 1932 production is nevertheless one of the most elegantly styled.
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