A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.A notorious woman rides a train through a dangerous situation with a British captain she loved.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
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)
Bess Flowers
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (uncredited)
Willie Fung
- Train Engineer
- (uncredited)
Tom Gubbins
- Chinese Officer
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe extras in the film mostly speak Cantonese - a Chinese dialect used mainly in southern China. If the film were to be more accurate, the extras would speak Mandarin, but most Chinese residents in the Los Angeles area (who worked as film extras) spoke Cantonese, necessitating Josef von Sternberg use Cantonese.
- GoofsThe film is set in northern China (Peking to Shanghai). The government and warlord soldiers are speaking Taishanese, which is a southern Chinese dialect not generally spoken in northern China. The northern dialects of Mandarin Chinese (a Beijing dialect) and/or Shanghainese would be spoken instead.
- Quotes
Reverend Mr. Carmichael: Can you tell me what's wrong now?
Mr. Henry Chang: You're in China now, sir, where time and life have no value.
- Alternate versionsComments in the AFI Catalogue suggest the credits were changed when re-released in 1935. According to the Catalogue, the original print referred to Harry Herveys work as a novel. In the viewed print on TCM, the onscreen credit was "story." The print was clearly a re-released print because of the PCA certificate number listed onscreen; such numbers were not issued until 1934. It is not known what other changes were made, if any, but the print ran only 82 minutes, suggesting some additional editing had been done.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Without Regret (1935)
Featured review
A very good movie.
Many consider "The Shanghai Express" the best von Sternberg/ Dietrich film. Perhaps. I certainly agree that it is a very good movie. The story is a bit trivial: two lovers meet again after five years. They were separated due to the lack of faith he had in her. This film is a journey. In fact, two kinds of journeys: a physical one, since the set is a moving train, and a psychological one, since during this journey Captain Harvey (Clive Brook) gains fate, essential to a love relationship. The train movements seem to indicate the attraction Captain Harvey and Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) feel for each other. This movie gives us one of the most beautiful images in movie history: Dietrich in the dark, smoking a cigarette, with the famous light that gave her that famous "butterfly shadow".
helpful•247
- chris-459
- Oct 24, 1999
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Ekspres za Šangaj
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 22 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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