Product Description

A young woman, Poppy, out for excitement in Shanghai, enters a gambling house owned by "Mother" Gin Sling, a dragon-lady who worked herself up from poverty to buy the casino. Sir Guy Charteris, wealthy entrepreneur, has purchased a large area of Shanghai, forcing Gin Sling to vacate by the coming Chinese New Year. Under orders from Gin Sling, who has found out Poppy is Charteris' daughter, the smarmy Doctor Omar leads Poppy deeper and deeper into an addiction to gambling and alcohol. Gin Sling, realizing that Charteris was her long-ago husband who she thinks abandoned her, plans her revenge by inviting Charteris to a Chinese New Year dinner party to expose his past indiscretions. Charteris, however, has a suprise of his own to spring on Gin Sling.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #34107 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2006-03-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 99 minutes

Amazon.com
Josef von Sternberg's The Shanghai Gesture is one of the most perverse portraits of decadence to squeak past Hollywood censors. Set in a Shanghai of crowded, claustrophobic, and gloriously phony street sets, Sternberg tells the tale of the criminals and aristocrats who inhabit "Mother Gin Sling's," a gambling house of seedy opulence where the bored rich and desperate poor congregate to lose their money and possibly their souls. Into this world wanders the thrill-seeking Poppy (the elegant Gene Tierney), a haughty girl infatuated with the club's sleepy-eyed gigolo-poet, Omar (Victor Mature, at his lazy best). "We buy and sell everything in the most honorable manner," he purrs to Poppy while luring her further into debt. When Gin Sling (Ona Munson) discovers the girl's secret, she uses her as part of an elaborate revenge against millionaire Sir Guy Charteris (Walter Huston), a Shanghai businessman with his own dark secrets. Though this came out a year before Casablanca, it plays like a twisted, fun-house mirror reflection of that film, a corrupt paradise in world of meaningless bustle, empty gestures, and easy virtue. Sternberg's languid pacing gives the film a stuck-out-of-time quality, with a story that slows and eddies while the film lingers on the sleazy decadence (suggested, rather than shown, in sly, subversive flourishes.)

Unfortunately the source print is substandard, splotchy, and full of speckles, with a soundtrack layered in hiss. At times it's like looking at the film through the veils Sternberg was so fond of. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

A Feeble Gesture
Compared to the earlier LD and VHS releases from Mystic Fire Video, this DVD is a major disappointment. The source print is abysmal, scratchy and spotted throughout, and there are a couple of jarring jumps in the soundtrack. This bizarre film's best attributes are its atmospheric, moody cinematography; the Oscar-nominated set decorations by Boris Levin; and the sumptuous beauty of the then-20-years-old Gene Tierney. Unfortunately, none of these virtues are adequately presented on the DVD transfer. A pity.

Von Sternberg's last great Hollywood film.
After the critical and box-office disaster of the beautiful and sardonic "The Devil is a Woman", Josef Von Sternberg had his artistic freedom taken away by the studio and was forced to direct works that were unsuitable to his tastes.He eventually could not even get work in Hollywood and he remains another sad example of genius wasted.He did however manage to work on one project that was worthy of his talent:"The Shanghai Gesture"."The Shanghai Gesture"was an anomaly when it was released in the 1940's.Directed in Von Sternberg's exquisite baroque style,it depicted the decadent goings-ons of characters engaged in vice,drugs and revenge set in a gambling den.At that time pre-war Hollywood films were firmly entrenched in the genteel and "The Shanghai Gesture" was considered too daring to be made.Indeed the film could only be made with heavy censorship and this constitutes the film's most serious flaw-some of the plot becomes incoherent due to the forced obscuring of some of the character's motivation. But the film is still remarkable for how perverse it is ,considering the time period,and its subtle yet unmistakeable methods of portraying depravity.Unfortunately,"The Shanghai Gesture" met the same fate as "The Devil is a Woman" and not until it was rediscovered by the French was it appreciated as the masterpiece that it is.The only thing to be added is of the technical-its camerawork and photography are outstanding and it contains a very entertaining and large cast of whom three deserve mention.Victor Mature,very amusing as the sly and mysterious Dr. Omar;Gene Tierney,so breathtakingly gorgeous as the eager to be corrupted Poppy,and best of all -Ona Munson giving the performance of her career as Mother Gin Sling -a Machiavellian revenger whose serpentine coiffure and mocking nonchalance conceal a heart consumed by pain."The Shanghai Gesture" is Josef Von Sternberg's last memorable Hollywood film and though not as well known as the great Marlene Dietrich collaborations certainly merits to be ranked with them.

Bizarre, Visually Sumptuous Film
Although the plot may present some "holes" (I think maybe due to censorship "cuts") and some of it might strike some as "uneven", it is nevertheless an attractive, visually stunning, sumptuous, bizarre, baroque, "decadent" Von Sternberg film, with a great cast.

I will start with Ona Munson, `cos she really steals the film from everyone, including one of my favourite actresses and beauties, lovely Gene Tierney glamorously dressed by her then husband Oleg Cassini. Munson's performance is a-la-par with any of the exotic characters played by Marlene Dietrich in her `30s Paramount Extravaganzas. As Mother Gin Sling, she's simply superb, wearing heavy Chinese-make-up, and all kinds of exotic hairstyles and clothes. I only recall Ona Munson, as Belle Watling in "Gone With the Wind", and you'd never tell they're the same person. She seems to have been really a "chameleon", because she IS the embittered Mother Gin Sling. I think she gave an Academy Award winning performance (IMHO).

On the other hand, Walter Huston, one of America's greatest actors ever ("Dodsworth", "Treasure of Sierra Madre", etc.) is his usual best as Sir Guy Charteris, the man who wants to take control of Shanghai, thus affecting Mother Gin Sling's business (she owns a Casino located in an "important zone" of the city). I won't tell more.

I saw this one on TCM (they borrowed it , because it does not belong to their catalog) with a Robert Osborne introduction, excellent as always, and he tells that no one could had filmed this story, because of the restrictions of the Production Code, until Von Sternberg did it, using the "innuendo" and making changes on the original story here and there, to have the "approval" seal. Anyway, the films is charged with sexual tension, double-entendre, amorality and decadence, as I stated before. It is a Shanghai that can only exist within the mind of the "Master of Style" that was Von Sternberg, I just love his films.

And we have too a lovely, young Gene Tierney as the spoiled Victoria Charteris (Huston's daughter), Victor Mature as "gigoloyish" character, Phyllis Brooks, as a beautiful, wise-cracking chorus girl (she reminded me of Jean Harlow's wise-cracking roles), Ivan Lebedeff as a "Casino-Roulette-addict", the funny Eric Blore as an employee of Mother Gin Sling, Mike Mazurki (as one of Mother Gin-Sling's thugs) and Madame Maria Ouspenskaya, in a small role (The "Amah").

In all, a worthwhile film, which I enjoyed completely. Sadly, it seems there are not "restored" copies available.

I think I'll buy the DVD, in spite of what's stated about its quality, because I don't think that there is any better edition around (Both the VHS and the DVD were edited by Image).