Shanghai Express (Von Sternberg, 1932): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.30pm
This is part of the Anna May Wong season at BFI Southbank and also screens on September 28th. Tonight’s presentation features an introduction by Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll.
Chicago Reader review: More action oriented than the other Dietrich-Sternberg films, this 1932 production is nevertheless one of the most elegantly styled. The setting, a broken-down train commandeered by revolutionaries on its way to Shanghai, becomes a maze of soft shadows and shifting textures, through which the characters wander in a philosophical quest for something—anything—solid. The screenplay, by Jules Furthman and an uncredited Howard Hawks, has a quality of wisecracking wit unusual in Sternberg's films: when someone asks Dietrich why she's going to Shanghai, she retorts, "To buy a new hat." Dave Kehr
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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