Shanghai Express

Josef von Sternberg's ravishing melodrama, set aboard a train cutting through civil-war-torn China, is one of the most visually gorgeous films of early Hollywood — and features Anna May Wong in the role she should have received top billing for. Marlene Dietrich stars as Shanghai Lily, a notorious "coaster" (courtesan) who encounters her former lover, a stiff-upper-lip British officer, on the express. When a Chinese warlord seizes the train, both women must navigate danger, desire, and sacrifice. Wong, playing Dietrich's traveling companion Hui Fei, matches the star frame for frame and delivers the film's most dramatically potent scenes — including an act of decisive violence that Dietrich's character would never be permitted. Von Sternberg's chiaroscuro lighting is extraordinary, and Wong has never looked more luminous or commanding on screen.