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The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
15 January 1942 (USA)
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Tagline:
"POPPY"...the Victim of Vengeance! Her love of life and laughter led her to a most amazing doom! more
Plot:
A young woman, Poppy, out for excitement in Shanghai, enters a gambling house owned by "Mother" Gin Sling...
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Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars.
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User Comments:
Certainly among the most beautiful films ever
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Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Gene Tierney | ... | Victoria Charteris | |
| Walter Huston | ... | Sir Guy Charteris | |
| Victor Mature | ... | Doctor Omar | |
| Ona Munson | ... | 'Mother' Gin Sling | |
| Phyllis Brooks | ... | Dixie Pomeroy | |
| Albert Bassermann | ... | Van Elst | |
| Maria Ouspenskaya | ... | The Amah | |
| Eric Blore | ... | Caesar Hawkins | |
| Ivan Lebedeff | ... | Boris | |
| Mike Mazurki | ... | The Coolie | |
| Clyde Fillmore | ... | Percival Montgomery Hower | |
| Grayce Hampton | ... | Lady Blessington | |
| Rex Evans | ... | Mr. Jackson | |
| Mikhail Rasumny | ... | Mischa Vaginisky (as Mikhail Rasumni) | |
| Michael Dalmatoff | ... | The Bartender (as Michael Delmatoff) |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
99 min (copyright length) | USA:98 min (restored version) (1981)
Country:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Certification:
Finland:K-16 |
USA:Approved (PCA #7972)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
In the play, the setting was a brothel run by "Mother Goddam", who was once sold into prostitution, and it dealt with drug addition and nymphomania as well. Many initial adaptations of the original play were rejected by the Hays office, and they discouraged studios from making the film. The Chinese consulate also voiced objections to the portrayal of the Chinese in the play.
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Quotes:
Movie Connections:
Featured in La société du spectacle (1973)
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Soundtrack:
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
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One of the most beautiful films ever made. Von Sternberg had a strange and painterly way of composing a frame when he shot his films. In earlier films the scenes abounded in detail, and often had layers that would stretch back into the distance, or simply add complexity and a sense of the tumult of the living all around. In this film he seemed to change his focus to the glamorous portrait, and brought to life some of the most stunning shots of actors I have ever seen.
If you wish to see the breathtaking beauty of Gene Tierney at its height that this is the film to see it. She's so willful and spoiled, suggesting the nymphomaniac that nobody could suggest any other way thanks to the censorship. Everyone in the film seems to licking their lips in anticipation of some decadent delight that will be happening off screen. And time and time again Sternberg throws up another static, stagy, yet impossibly beautiful portrait of one of his stars.
The scent of opium and sex practically oozes from every frame.