Screening

New 2K Restoration

This screening includes SHANGHAI EXPRESS

Date and time:: Sat, Oct 7, 2023, 4 pm; $5

Genres:

An exhilarating mix of pre-Code wantonness, Shanghai Express marks the commercial peak of the seven legendary collaborations of screen icon Marlene Dietrich and filmmaking auteur Josef von Sternberg.

Fall 2023: Sirens & Spitfires: Liberated Ladies of Pre-Code Cinema

Before Hollywood began enforcing the Production Code from 1934 until the 1960s to avoid censorship from political and religious institutions, the movies were a playground for salacious stories and lurid vices. Focusing on the self-possessed and ambitious women of this era, Sirens & Spitfires celebrates the ladies who schemed, seduced, sinned, and subverted onscreen while offscreen they refused to bow down to their studio bosses, took charge of their own careers, and became shimmering icons of glamour, persistence, and cinema itself.

Comprised of five scorching classics starring such pre-Code royalty as Marlene Dietrich, Jean Harlow, Kay Francis, Bette Davis, Joan Blondell, and Barbara Stanwyck—with vital supporting turns from Chinese-American star Anna May Wong and African-American character actress Theresa Harris, both of whom might've had greater careers had the Code's racist rules not controlled their roles—this series spotlights the daring topics, saucy dialogue, eyebrow-raising innuendo, unapologetic lust, and breathless pace of these marvels of economical storytelling. So, clutch your pearls and grab your smelling salts, because you’re in for a wicked good time.

Marlene Dietrich is at her wicked best as Shanghai Lily, a courtesan whose reputation brings a hint of scandal to a three-day train ride through war-torn China. On board, she is surrounded by a motley crew of foreigners and lowlifes, including a fellow fallen woman (Anna May Wong), an old flame (Clive Brook), and a rebel leader wanted by the authorities (Warner Oland). As tensions come to a boil, director Josef von Sternberg delivers one breathtaking image after another, enveloping his star in a decadent profusion of feathers, furs, and cigarette smoke. The result is a triumph of studio filmmaking and a testament to the mythic power of Hollywood glamour. — The Criterion Collection [82 min; drama; French, Cantonese, German, and English]

This screening is in partnership with the City Lights Film Series.

"Von Sternberg, by sheer hypnosis, chicanery, or what you will, continues to make every gesture, every spoken monosyllable, seem momentously important to the welfare of his pictures." — Philip K. Scheuer, Los Angeles Times

"You can feel the whole thing surging forward like a mighty steam-roller, vivid and exciting, beating headlong into a stirring crescendo that tinkles notes of accented harmony." — Harold V. Cohen, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"The film has compensating strength in the star [Marlene Dietrich], who photographs more beautifully than before and, though she is acted off the screen by Anna May Wong, shows herself unique in Hollywood by being majestically beautiful." — Robert Herrind, The Guardian

Any film screened at IU Cinema may contain content that viewers find sensitive or upsetting. Visit our Audience Advisories page to learn more.