Ado Kyrou: “Reclining on the divan in her drawing room/train compartment in Shanghai express, Marlene disappears behind her enormous black lace hat. In one bold move, a man’s hand tears off her hat and Marlene’s lips part. That was my first contact with the cinematic woman. Gripped by undefinable anguish, suddenly transported beyond the spectacle unfolding on the screen, I sank into my seat, convinced that the theater was empty that Clive Brook didn’t exist and that I was beginning a long, beautiful dialogue with the marvelous adventuress Shanghai Lily. Sternberg had directed the 9 year old kid that i was into the only life that was absolutely real, the life of the senses into which the woman led us.” Anna May Wong is captured with equal dignity and almost as much magic as Dietrich. Sternberg’s early mentor, former director Emile Chautard, plays the french officer with elegance.