Shanghai Express

Directed by Josef von Sternberg, Shanghai Express follows several figures, including Marlene Dietrich’s Shanghai Lily and Warner Oland’s Henry Chang, as they find themselves thrust into a dangerous situation aboard the title conveyance. Filmmaker Sternberg, working from a screenplay by Jules Furthman, delivers an erratically-paced drama that fares especially poorly within its sluggish and oddly uneventful first half, as the movie’s opening stretch, which concerns the various characters’ decidedly plotless exploits, contains exceedingly little in the way of compelling attributes or forward momentum – with the relatively watchable vibe, then, due almost entirely to the stirring performances and smattering of eye-catching visual touches (eg an impressive overhead shot of a train passing through a busy street). And although the picture admittedly does take a turn for the eventful at around the midway point, Shanghai Express has long-since alienated the viewer and cemented its place as a half-baked endeavor that rarely feels as substantive (or engrossing) as one might’ve anticipated – which is a shame, certainly, given that Sternberg has undoubtedly elicited a terrific star-turn from Dietrich.

** out of ****