Shanghai Express
If there was ever a “star vehicle,” Shanghai Express is it.
Marlene Dietrich is the centerpiece of this movie. And director Josef von Sternberg makes it clear from her first veiled appearance to the final embrace.
Dietrich, as well as her co-star, bulldog-faced Clive Brook, deliver their lines rather stoically; her expression and screen presence is more important and tells more of the story than the tone of either of their voices. Her looks speak volumes.
Shanghai Express is a road-trip story. While Dietrich is the draw, there’s still an interesting story going on as the train travels through civil-war-divided China.