The fourth of Marlene Dietrich’s seven features with director Josef von Sternberg set the tone for train thrillers for the ensuing decade, gathering together a military doctor, two courtesans, a hypocritical missionary, an opium dealer, a gambler and a mysterious Eurasian businessman on the Peking to Shanghai express.
The fourth of Marlene Dietrich’s seven features with director Josef von Sternberg set the tone for train thrillers for the ensuing decade, gathering together a military doctor, two courtesans, a hypocritical missionary, an opium dealer, a gambler and a mysterious Eurasian businessman on the Peking to Shanghai express. Nominated for best picture, it also proved to be Dietrich’s biggest hit at Paramount. She plays “the notorious White Flower of the Chinese coast”, who seeks to protect fellow “coaster” Anna May Wong and ex-lover Clive Brook from ruthless rebel leader Warner Oland.