Classic train movie with Marlene Dietrich perfectly cast as courtesan Shanghai Lilly. Clive Brook, who looks like a bank manager from Norwich, is less believably cast as the love of Lilly’s life, a British doctor on his way to perform an operation, but the support cast is spot on: Anna May Wong, Warner Oland, Eugene Palette, etc.
Anyway, the real romance is between Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg and his DOP (Lee Garmes); I’ve never been a massive Dietrich fan, but she’s absolutely stunning here, so lovingly shot.
The fact this was made pre-Code means it can be a bit more grown up – Dietrich is allowed to go off into the sunset with Brook instead of being punished (Anna May Wong isn’t, but she is Chinese – it’s not that grown up); a dodgy French officer isn’t punished. Very sexy and colourful; much imitated over the years.
No comments:
Post a Comment