The Shanghai Gesture (LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #46)

In an interlude between two omnibus film capsule episodes, I'm focusing on a single film for my October podcast: Josef von Sternberg's The Shanghai Gesture. Recommended by a patron back in 2018, in part for its Twin Peaks connections (which I touch on briefly), the film is an odd, fascinating fusion of Sternberg's precise, even ponderous direction and an eclectic, bustling scenario similar to Casablanca. Based on a scandalous play and set in a brothel barely disguised as a casino and featuring a tangled web of interracial romances, the film presented a challenge for the censors - contributing to the film's messy feel. Starring Gene Tierney, Victor Mature, Walter Huston, and Ona Munson, with scene-stealing supporting work by Phyllis Brooks and Maria Ouspenskaya, the ensemble offers so much to discuss that I didn't even find time to mention Eric Blore, one of my favorites from the Astaire/Rogers stable. This review forms a bridge between the prior and upcoming podcasts, as has been a consistent pattern all season. September's anthology ended with a discussion of The Angel Wore Red, about a prostitute in a tumultuous early twentieth century society, and November's round-up will begin by covering The Bitter Tea of General Yen (sampled at the end of this episode) which sets a disoriented Westerner against a Chinese culture she's both at home and at odds in, just as in The Shanghai Gesture.

Subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts

You can also listen on Pinecast and Spotify

(and most places podcasts are found)

LINKS

The Shanghai Gesture (1941) by Sheila O'Malley (Film Noir of the Month)

MY RECENT WORK

New on other podcasts

Twin Peaks Cinema - Bigger Than Life (Ray's Haunted Fifties)

New on YouTube

Twin Peaks Conversations w/ Ominous Whoosh author John Thorne, part 1

New on Patreon

(for $5/month)

Twin Peaks Conversations w/ Ominous Whoosh author John Thorne, part 2

(for $1/month)

Episode 95, part 1: Concluding the 80s... Red Dawn, Do the Right Thing & Hail Mary (capsules on Stranger Things, Top Gun: Maverick, The Goonies, Gremlins, Midnight Run, Scarface + feedback/media/work updates including Encanto & more)

+ EXCLUSIVE advance: TWIN PEAKS Character Series #74, 73 & 71

Patreon update #8: Carnival of Souls, Upstream Color & The Shanghai Gesture (+ Christopher Nolan & more) and preview of Come On Over, Veronique (Kieslowski Montage)

The podcast's second triple feature covers three disparate films - a low-budget cult classic from the sixties, a recent sci-fi art film, and a decadent piece of Hollywood exotica. All three tell stories of young women in over their heads, seemingly contending with much larger forces beyond their control although possibly the struggles they face are primarily in their own heads. Additionally, I take a look at the quirky Twin Peaks Access Guide, revisit Christopher Nolan (covering most of the films I didn't talk about in my recent double header), and explore an era in my own blogging history when I began to indulge in image-posts, including a survey of all the films I saw in the movie theater between the late eighties to the late nineties, Twins as a 4-year-old to Affliction as a 15-year-old.

And I preview my second montage in a month this week, a clip from my fusion of Amy Winehouse and Krzysztof Kieslowski, which you can see by becoming a third-tier patron for $10/month. For the rest, a mere dollar can be your key. See you on the other side...

Come On Over, Veronique - Kieslowski Montage (February "See the Future" Preview #2 - 3rd tier reward)

Episode 8: Carnival of Souls, Upstream Color & The Shanghai Gesture (+ Christopher Nolan & more)

Line-up for Episode 8

INTRO

*

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 3rd Tier Biweekly Preview - Come On Over, Veronique (Kieslowski Montage)

*

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: updated Twin Peaks picture gallery

*

WEEKLY UPDATE/works in progress: finished minor characters

*

FILM IN FOCUS: Carnival of Souls

*

FILM IN FOCUS: Upstream Color

*

FILM IN FOCUS: The Shanghai Gesture

*

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: The Access Guide

*

OTHER TOPICS: Christopher Nolan's other films (outtake from Interstellar/Prestige episode)

*

OPENING THE ARCHIVE "The Image Emerges" (January - February 2010), this week's highlight (They Once Were Coming Attractions: memories of my movie past, 1988 - 1998)

BECOME A PATRON

Remembering the Movies, Nov. 12 - 18

Every Friday, we look back at films released 10-100 years ago this week.

First off, a note of mourning. Since this series began I have been linking up every 1990 release to a "Siskel & Ebert" review. Watching those old programs had been one of the highlights of "Remembering the Movies" for me - well, lo and behold, this week when I look up Rescuers Down Under the link is broken. Turns out (irony of ironies, given the movie in question) that the D****y Corporation decided to take down the archives for no apparent reason. Which of course breaks all the links on my previous entries as well (luckily I included quotes from those shows in my text). So R.I.P. "At the Movies," and cross your fingers for the archives to go back up when a new edition of the show begins in January. A discussion of the circumstances of the deletion can be found here, along with pointers to where 80s episodes can be found. Almost makes you wish Stokowski was giving the Mouse the finger instead of shaking his goddamned hand.

Another important subject, on which I hope to hear some feedback...

Starting next week, I would like to simplify "Remembering the Movies" so that it consists of the titles of the releases, multiple pictures for each movie, embedded video clips, and maybe some quotes from critics or historians (in other words, the information I'm already presenting, just unfiltered and un-paraphrased, and without my own opinion or prior knowledge mixed in - and also less frequent, as some entries would be pictures/videos only). The paragraphs and story summaries would be axed; the result would be less exploratory than expository (but also more colorful and quicker to take in). I think this would still deliver what readers get from the series - i.e. a walk through movie history - while making the posts easier for me to prepare (the current approach is frankly too time-consuming to continue). In order to still write something, I might pick one film a week and write up a capsule review. Otherwise, it will be a mostly visual approach.

Share your thoughts on this new plan below - lurkers, that means you too! As I cut down on blogging in the coming weeks and months, your response will help determine if "Remembering the Movies," in one form or another, is something I preserve.

This week's films - with the customary paragraphs, information, quotations, and links - follow the jump.