Week Twelve: Shanghai Express (1932)
Producer: Adolph Zucker
Writer: Jules Furthman
Cinematographer: Lee Garmes
Music: W. Franke Harling and Rudolph G. Kopp
Studio: Paramount
Starring: Marlene Dietrich (Madeline aka Shanghai Lily), Clive Brook (Capt. Donald “Doc” Harvey), Anna May Wong (Hui Fey), Waner Oland (Henry Chang), Eugene Pallette (Sam Salt), Lawrence Grant (Rev. Carmichael), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Eric Baum), Louise Closser Hale (Mrs. Haggerty)
Though he was born in Austria and spent many of his early years there, Josef von Sternberg wasn’t really from the same stock as the German/UFA directors like Murnau and Lang even if he is often lumped in with them. Sternberg made movies in America and was a Hollywood director through and through. The most important event in his career, however, did take place in Germany when Sternberg met German actor and nightclub sensation Marlene Dietrich and cast her in The Blue Angel (1930), a role that made her a star. Prior to Dietrich, Sternberg was an accomplished director, with films like The Last Command (1928) and The Docks of New York (1928) are two achievements of silent cinema, but it was his partnership with the alluring Dietrich that elevated him to the next level of all-time great directors. In turn, Dietrich became one of the biggest stars in Hollywood history as well as a cultural and fashion icon under the tutelage of Sternberg.
The symbiotic relationship between actor and director goes back to the days of D.W. Griffith and Lillian Gish, but there was something special with Sternberg and Dietrich, a melding of talents that not only produced fabulous results but also established a gold standard for how a director could enhance his star. Sternberg was perhaps the best director ever in creating compositions for the screen using light. His use of high contrast photography is expressionism taken to a new level of subtlety and brilliance that would influence many directors that followed, including once again those of the film noir movement in the forties.
Many have credited Sternberg for doing much of the cinematography and lighting on his films, in fact, Sternberg did his own cinematography for The Devil is a Woman (1935) and was a member of the Cinematographer's Guild, something that was very rare for Hollywood directors.
Where he was revolutionary was in the way he lit his stars, most notably Dietrich. No matter what is happening on the screen, she is always bathed in the perfect light, in a way that accentuates all her beauty and eliminates any of her flaws. A light close to her face accentuates her cheekbones and gives her eyes depth, another light focuses on her face, making it stand out from the rest of the frame, and a final light on her face combines with the other two, bathing it in light and subtly softening the look of her nose. This is the antithesis to The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Additionally, make-up and costuming is also an important element that makes the star stand out above all others. The camera, the lighting, the costumes, the makeup, the director, the characters on the screen, and the audience all have their attention focused on the star and when the star is a performer of the quality of Marlene Dietrich, magic happens. It didn’t hurt that the two were in love at the time, though Sternberg put the extra effort into lighting all of his leading ladies. However, his work with Dietrich topped all others.
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| Sternberg's high contrast cinematography of light and shadow not only prefigures film noir but was also key to the directors cinematic vision: "Shadow conceals—light reveals. To know what to reveal and what to conceal, and in what degrees to do this, is all there is to art." |
Where he was revolutionary was in the way he lit his stars, most notably Dietrich. No matter what is happening on the screen, she is always bathed in the perfect light, in a way that accentuates all her beauty and eliminates any of her flaws. A light close to her face accentuates her cheekbones and gives her eyes depth, another light focuses on her face, making it stand out from the rest of the frame, and a final light on her face combines with the other two, bathing it in light and subtly softening the look of her nose. This is the antithesis to The Passion of Joan of Arc.
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| Sternberg always lights Dietrich to best effect... |
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| ...even when half-upside down on the back of a train. |
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| ...or struggling with thugs. |
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| Even in large groups, Dietrich gets the favorable lighting. |
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| Sternberg's stunning effect, in which the light starts out on Dietrich's hair... |
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| ...before transitioning onto her face. |
Additionally, make-up and costuming is also an important element that makes the star stand out above all others. The camera, the lighting, the costumes, the makeup, the director, the characters on the screen, and the audience all have their attention focused on the star and when the star is a performer of the quality of Marlene Dietrich, magic happens. It didn’t hurt that the two were in love at the time, though Sternberg put the extra effort into lighting all of his leading ladies. However, his work with Dietrich topped all others.
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| Marlene Dietrich's love affair with feathered clothes, many of which were created by Travis Banton, lasted long after she and Sternberg split up. |
From this point on, all female stars would get the same treatment as Dietrich and cinematographers would go to great lengths to make their stars look perfect, using much softer light, filters, or even placing a thin veil of cloth over the screen to get an extra soft diffusion effect. Cosmetics and costumes were selected particularly to make the most of the stars best physical features. Famously, Claudette Colbert was convinced she had a good side and a bad side and demanded that she only be photographed on her good side. In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Frank Capra had sets designed especially so that Jean Arthur would only be filmed on what she considered her good side. For her part, Dietrich not only appreciated the work Sternberg did in creating her image, she never forgot it and would adjust the lighting and do her own makeup on many other films in her career post-Sternberg.
Though his films are fantastical and almost completely divorced from any semblance of reality, Sternberg was one of the first personal directors, inserting himself into each film as an ineffectual, stilted lover of Dietrich while each film in turn defines the directors own personal vision of love.
After You Watch the Movie (Spoilers Below)
All of this shouldn’t overshadow the fact that the seven Dietrich/Sternberg collaborations are tremendous films and Shanghai Express, in particular, should be singled out as an example of the potential of talking pictures. Though it runs just 80 minutes, Shanghai Express is able to introduce and sustain an ensemble cast of characters, something that would not be possible to do so efficiently, if at all, in a silent movie. Many of the characters in the film give a couple of lines of dialogue during their first appearance on the screen that not only tells us who they are, but what their personalities are.
In a silent movie, characterization can only be established through physical acting and clumsy title cards, but a clever writer in a sound picture can tell us all we need to know about a character by either having them speak or having someone talk about them. For example, Sam Salt launches immediately into his boisterous betting discussion, Mrs. Haggerty is identified as stuck up, and Eric Baum as a grump. Hui Fei speaks little but we know who she is by the way that other characters discuss her. Only the two driving force characters of the movie aren’t so instantly pegged: “Shanghai Lily” is a flower that slowly unfolds while Henry Chang is an enigma that isn’t revealed until his plot is. Cleverly, several of the characters are revealed to be much more than we thought later in the picture, such as Reverend Carmichael who goes from judgmental racist to defending Madeline. In fact, almost all the characters show flaws in one way or another but none, not even Chang really, are painted as completely evil. Even the romantic lead demonstrates his racism towards Hui Fei. The addition of dialogue allows for the creation of the multi-dimensional characters that silent films lacked.
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| The ensemble cast. introduced in train windows. |
In a silent movie, characterization can only be established through physical acting and clumsy title cards, but a clever writer in a sound picture can tell us all we need to know about a character by either having them speak or having someone talk about them. For example, Sam Salt launches immediately into his boisterous betting discussion, Mrs. Haggerty is identified as stuck up, and Eric Baum as a grump. Hui Fei speaks little but we know who she is by the way that other characters discuss her. Only the two driving force characters of the movie aren’t so instantly pegged: “Shanghai Lily” is a flower that slowly unfolds while Henry Chang is an enigma that isn’t revealed until his plot is. Cleverly, several of the characters are revealed to be much more than we thought later in the picture, such as Reverend Carmichael who goes from judgmental racist to defending Madeline. In fact, almost all the characters show flaws in one way or another but none, not even Chang really, are painted as completely evil. Even the romantic lead demonstrates his racism towards Hui Fei. The addition of dialogue allows for the creation of the multi-dimensional characters that silent films lacked.
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| Even Shanghai Express's "hero" shows himself to be prejudiced. |
Shanghai Express had more freedom in inserting flaws into characters because it was made during what is now known as the Pre-Code era. The Production Code (also known as the Hays Code), created by the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (or the MPPDA, what would later become the MPAA), was actually created in 1930 as a way to curtail what was seen as salacious content in films. The code covered all the major vices from nudity, sexual content, and violence to even more questionable areas of censorship such as outlawing the depiction of an interracial romantic relationship. While those who created and enforced the code censorship may have been motivated by morality, for the studio heads that approved of it, the code was simply a way to keep the eyes of the American government off of Hollywood and their anti-trust status. Even with the code created in 1930, the MPPDA rarely enforced it, it wasn’t until the fanatical Joseph Breen took over in 1934 that censorship was strictly enforced and the Pre-Code era came to an end.
Since it was made pre-1934, Shanghai Express features a number of aspects that would not be allowed just a few years later. The most obvious example is the profession of both Madeline and Hui Fei, who are clearly implied to be women who use their sexuality to gain money and favors from men. Many men apparently, as Madeline famously remarks about her transformation: “It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily.” There are number of other lines that wouldn’t pass the censors, such as the back and forth between Madeline and Mrs. Haggerty about what kind of house the latter was referring to. Pay close attention and you’ll see a number of innuendos that would seen be outlawed under Breen.
Shanghai Express is also notable as one of the few films that star Anna May Wong that are still worth watching today. Wong was an excellent actress but she wasn’t given many good roles and was too often pigeon holed because of her ethnicity. Had she been born later, Wong may have had a better chance of become the star her talents deserved, although goodness knows even today Hollywood isn’t much better in their use of Asian actors.
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| The remarkable Anna May Wong, an excellent actress who struggled to find work due to her race. |
See Also
Morocco (1930) dir. Josef von Sternberg
Sternberg and Dietrich’s first Hollywood film together, featuring a young Gary Cooper as the romantic lead, though Dietrich steals the show with her cabaret-style performances in tails. All of the Sternberg/Dietrich films are worth watching but this and the following film are good places to start.
The Scarlet Empress (1934) dir. Josef von Sternberg
The Sternberg/Dietrich collaboration veers off into total a total fantasy world in this sort-of bio-pic of Catherine the Great. Sternberg was never more visual inventive and Dietrich never more sensuous.
Grand Hotel (1932) dir. Edmund Goulding
If any actress could rival Dietrich in the early thirties, it was Greta Garbo, though she never had a Sternberg to make great films for her. Grand Hotel is a similar setup to Shanghai Express, both feature interweaving plots and an ensemble cast.
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