Shanghai Express

+ intro by Katie Gee Salisbury, author of Not Your China Doll

In Josef von Sternberg’s classic, Anna May Wong shares a compartment with Marlene Dietrich on a train ride through war-torn China.

Stealing the scene in this lauded Dietrich-von Sternberg collaboration, Wong plays Hui Fei who finds rapport with her co-star’s fellow ‘fallen woman’, Shanghai Lily. The two cosmopolitan icons had known each other from Berlin before Dietrich became an overnight star with The Blue Angel. A pre-Code drama set in the Chinese Civil War, Shanghai Express features secondary footage shot by cinematographer James Wong Howe during his 1929 trip to China.

+ My China Film/Bold Journey: ‘Native Land’ (unconfirmed)

China 1936/USA 1957. Director Anna May Wong. 30min. Digital

A rarely seen television episode featuring a 52-year-old Anna May Wong guiding the audience through a travelogue she made on her 1936 trip to China.

Content warning: Contains sexist and racist attitudes, language and images, including yellowface, as well as scenes of torture and rape.