Film: Shanghai Express (in 35mm) preceded by Meeting Two Queens

Shanghai Express
In this pre-Code classic, Marlene Dietrich stars alongside Anna May Wong as courtesans aboard a train bound for Shanghai that is hijacked by rebels. Also aboard the train is Captain Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) a former love of Dietrich’s Shanghai Lily. Nonetheless, it is the palpable chemistry displayed between Lily and Wong’s Hui Fei that is enthralling. Dietrich has long been considered a bisexual icon; she made no secret of her sexual fluidity, and she shattered gender norms by presenting equally masculine and feminine in her way of dressing offscreen.

Content advisory: This film contains a performance with a white actor in yellowface.

DIRECTED BY: Josef von Sternberg. WRITTEN BY: Jules Furthman, Harry Hervey. WITH: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland. 1932. 82 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. New print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.

Preceded by
Meeting Two Queens
An experimental short by filmmaker Cecilia Barriga, who cuts and re-edits scenes from studio pictures featuring Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. A precursor to modern day fancams found on social media platforms, Barriga reimagines Garbo and Dietrich cast as lovers in a fictional film.

DIRECTED BY: Cecilia Barriga. WITH: Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo. 1991. 14 min. Spain. Color. English. DCP. Preservation of this video was made possible by the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation masters program at New York University, the Women’s Film Preservation Fund, and Women Make Movies.