Shanghai Express
City Streets
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Shanghai Express
Directed by Josef von Sternberg.
With Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong.
US, 1932, 35mm, black & white, 82 min.
Print source: Universal
Josef von Sternberg’s pre-Code melodrama stars his frequent muse, the stunning Marlene Dietrich as a notorious prostitute who reunites with a former lover during a thrilling ride on the Shanghai Express. Hijacked by rebel Chinese, the train takes its medley of passengers on a dangerous trip through a stylized, dazzling mise-en-scène edged with clever dialogue. In this exotic dreamworld, glamorous appearances and pretense trick the senses, and morality is as incognito as the spies aboard.
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City Streets
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian.
With Gary Cooper, Sylvia Sidney, Paul Lukas.
US, 1931, 35mm, black & white, 83 min.
Print source: Universal
City Streets is a relatively early example from the gangster genre, but so imbued with poetry that it more closely resembles the rough beauty of Sternberg’s early crime films than the more violent works that would follow in the wake of Scarface’s success the following year. Paramount star Gary Cooper is the Kid, a sweet, roguish naïf working at a shooting gallery when he falls in love with a mobster’s daughter. Her ambivalence towards her father’s life of crime and the Kid’s resistance to becoming a gangster present the obstacles to the consummation of their love in this touching romance with exquisite cinematography by the great Lee Garmes.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Artists and Models
Ministry of Fear
One-Eyed Jacks
Double Indemnity
The Conversation
The Lost Weekend
The Desperate Hours
Seconds
Island of Lost Souls
Chinatown
Hail the Conquering Hero
Citizen’s Band
Dark City
Days of Heaven
