Friday, March 29, 2013

Fashion in Film Blogathon: Shanghai Express (1932)

Clive Brook and Marlene Dietrich

Between 1930 and 1935, Josef von Sternberg filmed six wondrous and surreal flights of imagination for Paramount starring Marlene Dietrich with costumes by Travis Banton. The director and Dietrich had already made their first film together, The Blue Angel (1930), for UFA in Germany and, on the heels of that film's sensational premiere in Berlin, departed for Hollywood. Von Sternberg, who was born in Austria but mostly raised in America, had worked previously with Banton in the U.S. on Underworld (1927), a groundbreaking silent crime drama.


Evelyn Brent as Feathers McCoy in Underworld
The first of the six Paramount productions was Morocco (1930), the film that made a star of Dietrich. It brought Academy Award nominations to von Sternberg, cinematographer Lee Garmes, art director Hans Dreier - and for Marlene Dietrich her one and only Best Actress nod. Morocco also introduced elements and themes that would recur in Josef von Sternberg's future Dietrich films: an enigmatic siren, besotted men, distant locales, misleading appearances, frustrated passion and the redemptive power of love.

Marlene Dietrich and Gary Cooper, Morocco

Shanghai Express (1932), the third of the collaborations with Dietrich and Banton, was, according to its director, "loosely based on a single page by Harry Hervey." Hervey actually provided more pages than that and from those pages Jules Furthman crafted a clever script. Von Sternberg constructed a China made of "papier-mache" and, borrowing a locomotive and railway cars from the Santa Fe Railroad, set the scene for the tale of a train hijacked en route from Peking to Shanghai by Chinese revolutionaries.

imagining China, Shanghai Express

Crowded on board with a clutter of cargo is a disparate group of passengers, several of whom harbor secrets. Among these travelers is dry-as-dust British military officer Donald ‘Doc’ Harvey (Clive Brook). Early in the journey he encounters the great lost love of his life, Magdalen, now known as “Shanghai Lily” and an infamous ‘coaster’ living by her wiles – played to the hilt by Marlene Dietrich at her most ravishing. As the trip unfolds and the train makes its way down the exotic and dangerous coast of China, Doc and Lily wrestle with reignited desire for each other. The hijacking triggers a crisis in their reunion.

Dietrich first appears onscreen more blonde than ever before, veiled and swathed in crepe and feathers, wearing crystal beads and kid gloves, carrying an Art Deco handbag. She is the quintessential femme fatale. Sleek and mysterious, Lily’s cynicism and insolence are tempered by her profound femininity. Dietrich skirts the edges of parody as the soft-spoken, worldly-wise heartbreaker. Brook is mostly sulky and long-suffering in his role; what attracts such a sensual woman to the repressed doctor is neither easy nor difficult to fathom.

veil, feathers, crystal, kidskin

This ensemble was concocted, according to Dietrich’s daughter Maria Riva, by her mother and Travis Banton. She writes of Dietrich going to the studio and running into Banton’s private office shouting, “Feathers! Travis - feathers! What do you think…Black feathers! Now, what bird has black feathers that will photograph?” The black-green tail feathers of Mexican fighting cocks were eventually chosen. Selecting the proper veil fabric took as long. Riva reports that when Dietrich finally held up a swatch of “black 41” with its horizontal lines, “Travis let out a wild whoop.” Finally, von Sternberg came to take a look at the completed outfit. There had been concern about his reaction – the elaborate costume would be very difficult to photograph. In German he said to Dietrich, “If you believe I am skilled enough to know how to photograph this, then all I can offer you is – to do the impossible.” In English he said to Banton, “A superb execution of an impossible design, I congratulate you all.”  After the director left, Banton broke out a bottle of champagne.

fur, feathers and lace

David Chierichetti has written that Travis Banton worked to give Dietrich, with her perfect posture and slender figure, a softened quality. "Her clothes would usually be fussier than any others he designed, with drapings of fabric and much use of fur and velvet that would be unflattering to a heavier figure." Banton understood that few but Dietrich could successfully wear a busy mix of textures and patterns.
 
feathers and lace

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Cinematic virtuoso and visionary Josef von Sternberg didn't hesitate to claim that he not only directed his films but was also responsible for every facet of every one of them, from lighting and photography to set design, costuming and, sometimes, music. Though the director freely admitted that Lee Garmes excelled behind the camera, he also maintained that Garmes did exactly as he was told, "to the extent that I would always be beside the camera. No picture of mine has been independently photographed." Dietrich, for her part, supported these assertions. As for costumes, von Sternberg's involvement in designing Dietrich's wardrobe was, as David Chierichetti has noted, "as hard a question to answer as how much he photographed the films." What is evident in the films von Sternberg made for Paramount with Dietrich and Banton is that costume was as much an element of narrative and theme as every other meticulously designed visual and aural detail.

Shanghai Lily's introduction - her attire and bearing suggest different possibilities: seasoned seductress, dark angel and more.
Lily is regally bundled in fur when she toys with her former lover. Teasing, she puts his military cap on her own head - at a jaunty angle. This is a woman who knows how to take command.

By the time Dietrich utters the line, "Shanghai Lily has reformed," Magdalen has begun to resurface.
In the final scene, Dietrich is again bedecked in Shanghai Lily's black-feathered vamp ensemble - but Magdalen can be seen and heard in her expression, her voice and her words. Doc, who she now calls by his given name, Donald, surrenders to her completely. She tosses away his riding crop and glove as they embrace.

Josef von Sternberg, in a 1966 interview with Oscar-winning film preservationist Kevin Brownlow, acknowledged that he had no interest in ‘authenticity’, “…on the contrary, the illusion of reality is what I look for, not reality itself.” Of the six von Sternberg/Dietrich/Banton films, film critic/historian David Thomson has written, “They are sublime, radiant and utterly undated, where earnestness, noble intentions, showing real life with pained sincerity (all plausible in the difficult times of the 1930s), have perished by the wayside.”

Shanghai Express was the most financially successful of the six Paramount productions, though its critical reception was mixed. Von Sternberg was flattered when novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand told him that the film had impressed her as other films rarely had. Naturally he asked what it was that captivated her so. He remembered, with some irony, that she told him it was “the way the wind blows through the fur-piece around Marlene’s shoulder when she sits on the back platform of the train.”



Shanghai Express was Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, Josef von Sternberg was nominated for Best Director and Lee Garmes won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.

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Travis Banton was Paramount's Chief Designer from 1929 until 1938. Before coming to Hollywood to design Leatrice Joy’s costumes for The Dressmaker of Paris (1924), he worked at various design houses including his own in New York. His reputation got a major boost in 1920 when he designed Mary Pickford’s wedding dress for her marriage to Douglas Fairbanks.

Mary Pickford in wedding gown, 1920
Banton’s designs were known for their fashionable cuts (generally on the bias, his specialty), luxurious fabrics, and beads, feathers, lace, fur and other ornamentation. His designs embodied the “Paramount Look” of the 1930s. He never took home a costume design Oscar; there's no question this was because the award did not exist until 1948, after the better part of his film career was over. Leaving Paramount, Banton went on to work for Fox on films like The Mark of Zorro (1940), Blood and Sand (1941) and A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941). He designed gowns on Columbia’s Cover Girl (1944) and for Universal’s Smash-Up: The Story of a Woman (1947). One of his late film assignments was designing gowns for Joan Fontaine in the haunting Max Ophuls drama Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948). The designer is also credited with mentoring his Paramount assistant Edith Head, who became the best known and most Oscar-winning costume designer in Hollywood history.



Rita Hayworth, Cover Girl (1944)
 

Banton’s eventual decline has been attributed to overwork and overindulgence. Evelyn Brent, the first actress to star in a von Sternberg/Banton film, recalled Banton's approach to costume design: “He was the kind of designer who read the script and would find out who was going to play the part, and worked out the clothes that way.” The feather and velvet hat he designed for her in Underworld started a fashion trend. “He was a genius and, boy, did he drink! That’s what ruined him…” said Louise Brooks, a woman who knew firsthand about drinking and ruination. 

Maria Riva knew Banton when he designed for the Dietrich/von Sternberg films. Of him she said that he “had the Ronald Colman look long before Ronald Colman had a look” – cashmere blazer, white flannels, paisley ascot and silk shirt with French cuffs. Dietrich’s long-time photographer John Engstead recalled that the actress didn’t listen to many but would always take advice from von Sternberg and Banton. David Chierichetti has written that it was his work for Dietrich that made Banton’s designs immortal. And costume designer Walter Plunkett (Gone with the Wind, An American in Paris) remembered, “The rest of us always watched Banton because he was always ahead of the fashion trend.” In fact, Banton's use of the strapless bodice pre-dated by four years Christian Dior's celebrated use of it as part of his "New Look" of the late 1940s.
 
Travis Banton and Marlene Dietrich

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Marlene Dietrich forever attributed her initial success in film to Josef von Sternberg, insisting "I was nothing but pliable material on the infinitely rich palette of his ideas and imaginative faculties." She learned everything about filmmaking, most especially lighting and photography, from him. The director would be unusually modest when it came to taking credit for 'inventing' Marlene Dietrich. "I did not endow her with a personality that was not her own...I gave her nothing she did not already have. What I did was to dramatize her attributes and make them visible for all to see."

The Paramount films Dietrich made with von Sternberg and Travis Banton were Morocco, Dishonored (1931), Shanghai Express, Blonde Venus (1932), The Scarlet Empress (1934) and The Devil is a Woman (1935). She and von Sternberg parted ways afterward. When her career foundered he advised her to make Destry Rides Again with James Stewart for Universal in 1939; it was a hit and revived her reputation. She went on to reinvent herself again and again.

Dietrich would work with Travis Banton on two more Paramount films, Frank Borzage's Desire (1936) and Ernst Lubitsch's Angel (1937). With or without von Sternberg's input, Banton's gowns for the great star were breathtaking.

Marlene Dietrich in scenes from all six films directed by Josef von Sternberg with costume design by Travis Banton


This post is my entry in The Hollywood Revue's Fashion in Film Blogathon...click here for more information and links to participating blogs.

 Notes:
Fun in a Chinese Laundry by Josef von Sternberg, MacMillan Co. (1965)
Marlene Dietrich by Maria Riva, Alfred A. Knopf (1993)
Hollywood Costume Design by David Chierichetti, Harmony Books (1976)
The Parade's Gone By by Kevin Brownlow, Bonanza Books (1968)
People Will Talk by John Kobal, Alfred A. Knopf (1985)
The Big Screen: The History of Hollywood by David Thomson, Farrar Strauss and Giroux (2012)    

30 comments:

  1. Really good stuff, Lady Eve. I love the work of Travis Banton and I am so glad you mentioned Evelyn Brent as Feathers, as her look really set the stage for the work he did with Dietrich.

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    1. Travis Banton did beautiful work for other stars (Mae West, Lombard, Claudette Colbert at Paramount), but his gowns for Dietrich are the stuff of (my) dreams.

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  2. Well written and researched article, Eve. She did like feathers and furs, didn't she?

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  3. Engrossing article, Lady Eve.

    Somehow, even watching a film with costumes by Travis Banton makes me feel taller. No one else made black and white seem so colourful.

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    1. Watching films costumed by Banton makes me feel taller, too - plus more elegant and a bit decadent.

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  4. A fascinating piece, Eve - interesting to learn more about Travis Banton. For me the most memorable thing about 'Shanghai Express' is really the haunting shots of Dietrich on her own rather than the romance with Brook - the lighting is amazing. I also really like the shots you have chosen to illustrate your article, and the video.

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    1. Judy, I wish someone would write the book on Travis Banton, it's overdue. Dietrich is a vision in this film, beautifully and lovingly photographed. She also turns in a fine (and seductive) performance as the insolent, cynical Lily/soft, introspective Magdalen.

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  5. Great tribute Lady Eve to Travis Banton, and Marlene. All of Banton's work with Marlene is serious glamour, and that coq-feather outfit from Shanghai Express is a revelation. I maintain that between the work of Banton and Adrian modern glamour was born. After Marlene no longer worked with Banton she turned to Irene, the other genius of early screen glamour. It's a shame Banton's alcoholism cut short his life and productivity. But here you encapsulate beautifully their work together.

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    1. I could blog for days on these six films and these three individuals, Christian (and I nearly did). Dietrich in Banton is my personal idea of the ultimate in Hollywood glamor. This has as much to do with the films as the star and the designer. Josef von Sternberg knew how to create an enticing dreamworld and make a centerpiece of his muse. Dietrich was also gorgeous and glamorous wearing Banton in "Desire" and "Angel." Later, without von Sternberg or Banton she seemed to become a bit too stylized and formal. Though I admired her to the end.

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  6. I have been really looking forward to reading your contribution to the, "Fashion in Film Blogathon". I really admire Marlene Dietrich’s stylish looks in all of her films.. I do not think anyone could wear a hat better than her.

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    1. It's interesting to see Dietrich in earlier photos and in "the Blue Angel," before she slimmed down and became blonder and blonder, etc. You can see her potential, but the transformation was amazing. She knew how to carry off her new look - and she could wear even the most over-the-top hat or costume (see "The Devil is a Woman") and still be glamorous and seductive.

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  7. Greatly enjoyed your post, Eve -- I realize that I haven't seen Marlene Dietrich in much, but I have always admired her style. I am now inspired to hunt down my copy of Shanghai Express and give it a watch!

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    1. Thanks, Karen, I hope you have a chance to see "Shanghai Express" soon. It's a wonderful trip into the imagination of Josef von Sternberg.

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  8. This was very interesting! I'll admit, I hadn't heard of Travis Banton prior to your post, but I am familiar with his films.
    You are right, few could wear outlandish clothing and pull it off than Marlene Dietrich.
    I can't believe Edith Head worked under him!
    Wonderful post with a great deal of research!

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    1. So happy to introduce you to Travis Banton. A genius. There has been gossip about Edith Head taking over when he left Paramount (where, she said, he was treated like a god). Who knows what's true, but she always praised him and said she learned everything working for him.

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  9. One of the reasons I love reading your posts, Lady Eve, is that you combine scholarship with passion and wordsmithery. I watched Shanghai Express for the first time last year and was mesmerized as were so many others. Your turn of phrase is as elegant as the drapery from the hands of Mr. Banton. Well-dressed post, darling!

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    1. Thank you, Kay! Such high praise is very flattering and, more than that, part of what makes the hard work that goes into blogging worth it (work you're very familiar with, I know). Have you seen all six of the films von Sternberg, Dietrich and Banton made together?

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  10. Dietrich looks so stunning in Shanghai Express, with Garmes' lighting of Banton's costumes. (I think her costumes in this film were only outdone by the designs that Banton did for her when she made The Devil is a Woman, which really lean toward the outre.) Thanks for a great and informative post.

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    1. You're so right about the costumes of "The Devil is a Woman" - lavish and over the top. Love it.

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  11. Marvelous post! I adore Dietrich and Shanghai Express is one of my favorites of her films, especially from a fashion standpoint. Shanghai Lily's wardrobe wasn't simply glamorous, it was outrageously glamorous and I love it. Banton by himself was such an incredible designer, but when he collaborated with Dietrich and Von Sternberg, it was magic. You can't watch any of the movies they worked on together and forget the costumes.

    Thank you so much for joining in my blogathon!

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    1. Every one of Dietrich's gowns or ensembles in "Shanghai Express" is stunning, and each unique. By the time "The Scarlet Empress" and "The Devil is a Woman" were made, Dietrich's costumes were positively byzantine - yet still dazzling thanks to Banton's genius.

      Thanks for hosting the Fashion in Film blogathon again this year, I hope you'll make it an annual event.

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  12. Fabulous post! I didn't know much about Travis Banton. The blogathon would not have been complete without a tribute to both Dietrich and Banton.

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    1. Thanks! Here's more on Travis Banton...

      Most will say that Banton was one of two great design geniuses in Hollywood during the '30s - the other being (Gilbert) Adrian. According to Edith Head, Banton was treated like royalty by Paramount and was given anything he asked for by the studio. He was the highest paid designer in Hollywood for years. It was very high pressure work, though, and he was dealing with divas on a daily basis. Seems he took his relief in drink and would disappear for unpredictable stretches of time. Paramount finally did not renew his contract and he moved on. One of his last projects was designing costumes for Rosalind Russell for "Auntie Mame" on Broadway in 1956. He died in 1958 at age 63.

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  13. Wonderfully researched post!

    Some of these outfits I have not previously seen on Ms. Dietrich but they are very feminine and lovely. I also associated her with sharper more angular pieces (shows how much I know, eh?)/

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    1. She was always glamorous, whether in an enticing gown or crisp suit. She was most stunning, I think, in the gowns Travis Banton, Irene and Jean Louis designed for her at different points in her career. When she worked on "Stage Fright" for Alfred Hitchcock, she insisted that her gowns be designed by Christian Dior. They were and it was agreed that she could keep them.

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  14. Love this, Lady Eve! I think you know I love both Banton and Marlene...in fact, both SHANGHAI EXPRESS and MOROCCO are among THE STYLE ESSENTIALS on GlamAmor and what I teach in my HISTORY OF FASHION IN FILM class. There is so much to love about this collaboration, including with the director Josef von Sternberg. I'm so glad you shared this much of the story of Banton's life...more people need to know it and to respect his incredible contributions to film. Great work!

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    1. Kimberly, As a fan of your GlamAmor Style Essentials (who would love to sit in on your History of Fashion in Film class someday), I'm very happy you enjoyed this piece. I'm passionate about the von Sternberg/Dietrich films and Travis Banton's contribution was enormous - can't be over-estimated. This post is a bit lengthy, but it could have been so much longer. Thank you for your comment!

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  15. Dietrich seemed to love wearing fur and feathers. I'm not keen on it, but she does look like a screen diva. I still haven't get to know much classic movies, but this sounds great. Lovely choice!

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    1. Andina, I'll admit that I have issues with the use of fur and feathers and would never wear them myself. At the same time, I can't help but admire the artistry behind the glorious costumes in "Shanghai Express" and how fur and feathers, along with fabricated materials, were used to create them. I hope you have a chance to see this film one day - and the other five films von Sternberg, Dietrich and Banton worked on together. They are all very special.

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