Trivia / Shanghai Express

• Banned in China: Briefly. The ban was lifted after Paramount promised to never make a film about Chinese politics again.
• California Doubling: Set in China but filmed on the Santa Fe railroad.
• Cast the Expert: Mandarin-speaking extras were cast as the rebels.
• The Cast Show Off:
  • Anna May Wong could speak both English and Chinese, and does so in the film.
  • Marlene Dietrich likewise demonstrates that she can speak French too, when she's required to translate for another passenger.
• Executive Meddling:
  • The Hays Code were heavily monitoring the portrayal of Carmichael. He was a practicing minister in the original draft, but becomes a doctor of divinity in the finished film.
  • Subverted in another case. They protested against a line where Chang says he's ashamed of his white half, but it remains in the film.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Warner Oland as a Chinese man. He's written to be half-white to Hand Wave it.
  • Anna May Wong was third generation Chinese, born in California, making her a quasi-example as Hui Fei.
• Playing with Character Type: Anna May Wong was frequently typecast as the Dragon Lady (having sworn off ever playing one again right before she did this film). Hui Fei is somewhat cunning and stabs someone in the back with a concealed dagger, but she's entirely a heroic character
• Pop-Culture Urban Legends: There were rumours that Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong were having an affair, due to the intense chemistry between them. While they were good friends, there is no actual evidence of an affair.
• Production Posse: The fourth collaboration between Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich.
• Reality Subtext: There is a line about Shanghai Lily breaking hundreds of men's hearts - which seems to be a Take That! by Joseph von Sternberg to Marlene Dietrich's non-exclusive attitude to affairs. The press had labelled her a "love pirate" at the time.
• Romance on the Set: Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich were having an affair during filming, despite both being married at the time.
• Sleeper Hit: A gloomy artsy film that's more about visuals than plot managed to gross $3 million that year (equal to about $55 million in today's money) - and it was the most financially successful of the Sternberg-Dietrich collaborations.
• Troubled Production: Tension was running high between Joseph von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich - the former feeling frustrated at the latter's casual attitude towards sex (she was apparently hooking up with Gary Cooper and Maurice Chevalier as well). He wanted to end their partnership, but she wouldn't work with anyone else. On set he apparently shouted so much that he lost his voice, resulting in him hooking up a PA system to the sound-stages. Due to his perfectionist way of shooting, he ended up doing most of the cinematography himself, even though Lee Garmes won an Oscar for the cinematography. Not helping matters was his estranged wife suing Marlene Dietrich just after filming began for "alienation of affections", though this was dropped.
• Typecasting: Josef von Sternberg had directed Marlene Dietrich in a similar role in Dishonored - where she played the wife of an officer who becomes a prostitute. Warner Oland likewise stars in that, as a duplicitous villain she offers sex for services to.