Celebrating Josef von Sternberg

Treats like this don't come around too often.  Yes, starting tomorrow, and running until the end of December, the BFI is hosting a season of films by the great Hollywood director Josef von Sternberg.  There's a hatful of important works in there, and many which you can barely see anywhere else: Underworld (1927), The Docks of New York (1928) and Anatahan (1953), for instance.  I'm particularly excited about An American Tragedy (1931); an adaptation of my favourite novel, which I've never managed to catch before.

In preparation, I dug out my DVD copy of von Sternberg's Shanghai Express (1932) on Saturday.  It remains revelatory.  Like much of von Sternberg's work, the plot plays second fiddle to the imagery and, specifically, to the glorious form of Marlene Dietrich.  Even a mid-film hostage situation – in which a rebel Chinese leader (played by Warner Oland, who became famous as Charlie Chan) interrogates the titular train's eccentric cast of passengers – turns out to be nothing more than moral justification for Dietrich's Shanghai Lily.  It's all another excuse to hold the camera on her lips, another excuse to film her in a shimmering gown.  And while it may sound kind of creepy, let me assure you: it's the stuff that cinema is made of.       

Anyway, I'd certainly recommend you pick up a copy (available here) – or, even better, head to one of the BFI screenings on the 1st, 12th or 13th December.  Here's some footage to whet your appetite: