Shanghai Express

Josef von Sternberg - 1932
Hallucinatory brilliance, beauty. This is a dream world far removed from any other. Dietrich's lighting has moved slightly up, almost now pointing down directly on her head, perhaps at about the crown. This, combined with the use of darker eye make-up, means there are shadows on her face; below the cheekbones, to create that gaunt sillouhette.
Veils, acting as filters one might say, are also everywhere, diffusing light. Dietrich wears wonderful, extravagant black, fur and feathers to frame her face. And also a hat with a veil over her face that remarkably seems to cast no shadow.
We have the complex frames, the long two and three shots. One noticeable aspect is that it would be unfair to say that, in terms of length of any one take, von Sternberg lingers on Dietrich. None is that long. She does give an incredible performance, of course, besides finding her keylight. The shaking near the end is uniquely powerful.
Lets also talk about von Sternberg's lap dissolves. These are so slow, almost (in fact, maybe are) superimpositions, seemingly sometimes returning to their source. von Sternberg has dissolves all over the place, these especially slow one adding to that smooth air, of a South Pacific island lagoon, or warm sea.
We see to have a pattern, an obsessional repeatal. Man loves Marlene, Marlene loves man, (all in a tragic manner), Marlene does something to show overwhelming love for man, that splits them. He doesn't appreciate her action, understand her extreme devotion, he thinks her deceitful. For all the various ideologies, mysoginies that is, at work here, the sheer power of the Dietrich character, that we utterly and completely give ourself up to her side (as far as we take any side at all; I'm not sure we do), I would take Dietrich as not identical with a fetish object here. Yes, she is that, but non-identity remains (Adorno and Dietrich)...
I can't say I thought about this too much when the film was playing; in its short run time I entered on a cloud somewhere, caught in the mist where I couldn't see (smoke!), half way dream and wake.
Oh and that huge, beautfiful, billowing train that comes towards us...