Shanghai Express (1932)

I've been a classic film fan all my life, but it's only in the last few years that I began to develop an appreciation for Marlene Dietrich. I never disliked her. It was more that I couldn't see what the fuss was all about.

Then I saw her in A Foreign Affair and I was blown away by her performance. She is glamorous and just plain sexy. Since then I've made a concerted effort to see as many of her films as I can get my hands on, so when I saw Shanghai Express was airing this month on TCM I set that bad boy to record straightaway.

Released in 1932 by Paramount Pictures, the film stars Dietrich as Shanghai Lily, a notorious courtesan of sorts who books passage on the express train from Beiping to Shanghai accompanied by a fellow "fallen woman" named Hui Fei (played by Anna May Wong).

Also aboard the train is Captain Donald "Doc" Harvey (Clive Brook), a British Army doctor with whom Lily was romantically involved some years earlier. Their relationship ended badly, though we discover that both are still very much in love with each other.


We're introduced to a motley crew of passengers: Mrs. Haggerty (Louise Closser Hale), a prim and proper boarding house proprietor; Mr. Carmichael (Lawrence Grant), an English Christian missionary; Sam Salt (Eugene Pallette), a crass American gambler; Eric Baum (Gustav von Seyffertitz), a German opium "supplier"; and the inscrutable Henry Chang played by Warner Oland.

Everyone on board knows who Shanghai Lily is...except for Doc Harvey. Imagine his surprise when he first lays eyes on the famous "fancy woman" he's heard so much about only to discover that she's actually Magdalen, his former flame whom he hasn't seen in five years. The two reconcile...and then China's civil war intervenes, leading the couple and their fellow passengers into a dangerous situation.

Will the train reach Shanghai? Will Magdalen and Doc get their happily-ever-after?

The role of Shanghai Lily was perfect for Marlene Dietrich. She is strong and sensual, yet vulnerable and she manages to convey this without a lot of dialogue. I enjoyed her chemistry with Clive Brook quite a bit. Their characters both feel betrayed by the other and they have very different ways of expressing those feelings. Lily's wry humor pairs well with Doc's quiet dignity. (I've made a note to see more Clive Brook films.)

Anna May Wong is interesting to watch, as usual, but there isn't much to her role. I wanted more screen time for Wong and I think a bit of back story for her character, Hui Fei could have made her actions later in the film even more powerful.

Shanghai Express was the fourth of seven films Dietrich made with director Josef von Sternberg, who received an Oscar nomination for Best Director.

Fury (1936)

Spencer Tracy is an icon for a reason. His film career spanned over four decades and in that time he portrayed every type of character imaginable: priest, fisherman, politician, father, newspaper man, lawyer...and, perhaps most beloved, male lead opposite Katharine Hepburn in a string of fantastic comedies.

In Fury, Tracy stars as Joe Wilson, a decent, hardworking young man of modest means living in Chicago. He and his fiancee, Katherine (Sylvia Sidney), haven't enough money to marry straightaway, so Katherine takes a better-paying job on the west coast while Joe remains in Chicago.

Months pass and finally their hard work pays off. Joe and his two brothers, Tom (George Walcott) and Charlie (Frank Albertson), purchase a gas station which the three will operate together.

Ecstatic that he's finally reached his goal, Joe hits the road to meet Katherine and bring her home. On the way there he drives through a small town where he is apprehended by the local police and brought into the police station for questioning. Apparently there has been a recent local kidnapping and the police and townspeople are eager to find the culprit and save the abducted young woman.

Of course, Joe had nothing to do with the kidnapping, but circumstantial evidence and being in the wrong place at the wrong time lead to his arrest. He maintains his innocence throughout the interrogation, but since he's the only viable suspect the police have they hold him in a jail cell while the investigation continues.

Word gets out that the police have a suspect in custody and the news quickly spreads through town, losing accuracy with each re-telling. Add booze and a loudmouthed rabble-rouser to the mix and the situation quickly escalates into a mob of angry townspeople gathered outside the police station with lit torches in hand.

A confrontation ensues until, inevitably, the police station is set ablaze...with Joe still locked up inside. Katherine learns of Joe's arrest and arrives just in time to see the horrible scene unfold. She, and everyone else, believes Joe died in that fire.

Of course, not long after, the real kidnapper is apprehended and Joe's name is cleared, but...there's something no one knows. Joe is alive. His brush with death has changed him into an angry, embittered man hungry for revenge.

He meets with his two brothers and persuades them to convince the district attorney (Walter Abel) to take the case to court. In Joe's mind, dead or alive, that mob is guilty of his murder and he won't rest until he sees every last man and woman fry...


Fury is director Fritz Lang's first American film and it's a powerful one, which uses a fictitious story to criticize and condemn anyone who has participated in or supported a real-life lynching. The script is fantastic and I really enjoyed Spencer Tracy's performance. He brings something so raw and so real to his portrayal as poor Joe.

I truly think this is a great movie (despite the cringe-worthy depiction of small-town women as bloodthirsty busybodies, which I'm choosing to overlook) and I have every intention of re-visiting it again someday.

P.S. I LOVE reading original movie reviews and found the New York Times' review of the film quite fascinating!

Romance in Manhattan (1935)

Romance in Manhattan is an absolute treat.  As a big Ginger Rogers fan, I expect to enjoy everything she's in, but this film proved to be so much more than I thought it would be. The story has a lot of heart and I was completely charmed by the characters.

Released by RKO Radio Pictures in 1935, the film stars Frances Lederer as Karel Novak, a Czech immigrant who makes the trip to America with his life savings and the expectation of a chance at a better life.  He's managed to save up the $58 he needs to obtain citizenship, only to find out upon arrival that the price has gone up to $200.  Desperate, he offers to work off the balance owed, but to no avail. He is ordered to return to Czechoslovakia.

Heartbroken, he reluctantly boards the ship, but as he watches New York City grow smaller in the distance he finds it impossible to leave after all he went through to get there, so he jumps ship and swims to shore. He doesn't realize until later that he has lost all of the money he had, leaving him flat-broke and homeless in a strange city.

Enter Ginger Rogers as Sylvia Dennis, a spunky chorus girl who happens upon Karel sneaking food left out for her and her fellow chorus girls outside of their club. She permits him to eat his fill and even offers him money, but he refuses, insisting all he really wants is a job. She offers to speak with her brother to see if he knows of anything available. Her brother, Frank (Jimmy Butler) is only about thirteen years old, but he agrees to share his gig selling newspapers with Karel until he's able to find a better job, and Sylvia provides Karel with blankets so he can sleep on the roof of their building.

Everything is rosy...for a while. From there we see the trio suffer through unemployment and trouble with the law, but nothing is so bad it can't be fixed, right? (Especially in a romantic drama released during the Depression!)

Primarily the story focuses on Karel's journey as an illegal immigrant trying to make it in Depression-era New York City. It's wonderful to see him triumph in spite of the many obstacles in his path. Sylvia's close bond with her precocious little brother is also a delight, as is the expected - but very sweet - love story with Karel.

Jimmy Butler is adorable as Frank. He appeared in several movies from the early thirties through the early forties (including Stella Dallas and Boys Town) before joining the army during World War II. He died in combat on February 18, 1945 - two days before his 24th birthday.

(The film's director, Stephen Roberts, died from a heart attack at age 40 the year after Romance in Manhattan was released. This was his final picture.)

The film also features J. Farrell MacDonald as a no-nonsense, kind-hearted police officer and the wonderful Donald Meek doing what he does best as a nervous judge.

Overall, I found a lot to enjoy in Romance in Manhattan. It's short and sweet with a great script and characters to root for - I highly recommend it. If you love Ginger Rogers and films made in the thirties, this one is a must.