Blu-ray
Shanghai Express
Call Number
- BLU-RAY DRAMA (CEN)
Edition
Blu-ray special edition.
Languages
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.
Performers
Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Pallette.
Publication Information
[Irvington, NY] : Criterion Collection, [2018]
Physical Description
1 videodisc (82 minutes) : sound, black and white ; 4 3/4 in.
Audience
Not rated.
Summary
"An intoxicating mix of adventure, romance, and pre-Code salaciousness, Shanghai Express marks the commercial peak of an iconic collaboration. Marlene Dietrich is at her wicked best as Shanghai Lily, a courtesan whose reputation brings a hint of scandal to a three-day train ride through war-torn China. On board, she is surrounded by a motley crew of foreigners and lowlifes, including a fellow fallen woman, an old flame, and a rebel leader wanted by the authorities. As tensions come to a boil, director Josef von Sternberg delivers one breathtaking image after another, enveloping his star in a decadent profusion of feathers, furs, and cigarette smoke. The result is a triumph of studio filmmaking and a testament to the mythic power of Hollywood glamour."--Container.
Notes
From the story by Harry Hervey.
Originally released as a motion picture in 1932.
Issued in a boxed set: Dietrich & von Sternberg in Hollywood.
Special features: New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack ; new interview with film scholar Homay King, author of Lost in translation: orientalism, cinema, and the enigmatic signifier.