A solid film set during the early years of the Chinese Civil War. All our main characters are making the long train ride from Peking (now Beijing) to Shanghai. While they hope it will be uneventful, they are twice stopped by the opposing factions of the war who want to search for their rivals.
I always find the pre-Hays Code films fascinating in that they didn't have to be as concerned with censorship. Marlene Dietrich stars as essentially a prostitute known as Shanghai Lily who stumbles across a former lover on the train. Their attempt to rekindle their relationship is butted up against his role in assisting one side of the civil war. It all holds up pretty well and is an impressive bit of filmmaking.
34 to go...
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