Good Evening Everyone… I promised to follow up with our last announcement and give you a little background on November’s film, Shanghai Express.  It stars Marlene Dietrich in her third film directed by Joseph von Sternberg, a director under whom she became a world renowned celebrity actress.  I love train movies, and this ranks as one of the best.

Shanghai Express takes us on a trip into pre-war (World War II) China.  It is a time when the Chang Kai Shek government is facing an ever growing threat from regional warlords determined to revolt and rule in their respective realms.  Indeed, this is how Mao Tse Tung started.

Shanghai Express explores the lives of a group of passengers on their way from Peiping to Shanghai by train.  They include a Chinese prostitute, a British missionary, an opium dealer, an American gambler, a dishonored French Captain, a mysterious oriental, and finally, Marlene who is surprised to meet another of the passengers, a British medical officer… her one true love in her past before she became known as the infamous Shanghai Lilly.  It’s quite a mixture, but before we’re through we grow to know them and to see that most are not what they appear to be.

Shanghai Express has been compared to the film Grand Hotel where it too explores the lives of a group of hotel guests.  Both were released in the same year.  Both were nominated for the Oscar as best picture of the year.  Grand Hotel won, but Shanghai Express won for best cinematography… and when you see it, you’ll agree that it is one of the best photographed films ever to come out of Hollywood.

Shanghai Express will be screened on Friday, November 13, 2015 at 7 P.M.  Doors open at 6:30 P.M.  We’ll also have a short feature and a cartoon.

See you at the movies!

Paul Becker