Metrograph

Marlene Dietrich re-encounters former lover Clive Brook on an express train travelling along the Civil War-wracked China coast, en route to safety in Shanghai, in this riot of delirious chinoiserie artifice and sculpted shadowplay by von Sternberg, his fourth of seven collaborations with Dietrich. A work of high Hollywood Orientalism whose title reflects the degree to which “Shanghai” was a synonym for cosmopolitan decadence in the ’30s, featuring simmeringly sensual imagery by cinematographer Lee Garmes and von Sternberg, and Anna May Wong in perhaps her finest American role as Dietrich’s imperious courtesan companion, a performance that caused something of a scandal in the Chinese press for its frank sexuality.