The bizarre stop-go cadences of the dialogue delivery are the most blatantly non-naturalistic element, but the overall design and dramatic pacing are equally extraordinary.
– ,
Time Out,
24 Jun 2006
fresh:
Shanghai Express is a picture of the new school, and when Marlene Dietrich promises Warner Oland to visit him at his castle if he will refrain from destroying Clive Brook's eyesight with a red hot poker, you will not find the situation banal.
– ,
TIME Magazine,
2 Feb 2011
fresh:
More action oriented than the other Dietrich-Sternberg films, this 1932 production is nevertheless one of the most elegantly styled.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
It is by all odds the best picture Josef von Sternberg has directed.
– Mordaunt Hall,
New York Times,
28 Jan 2006
fresh:
The finished product is an example of what can be done with a personality and photogenic face such as Marlene Dietrich possesses to circumvent a trashy story.