It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

In far eastern Shanghai, wealthy westerners enjoy singing and dancing to the hit song "Singin' in the Rain" (a contemporary hit then, memorably revived for MGM's 1952 musical). Among the party-goers, American playboy Conrad Nagel (as Howard Vazey) romances British socialite Kay Johnson (as Dorothy Daley). With three other upper-class passengers, they get on board a yacht bound for San Francisco. Brutish and angry steward Louis Wolheim (as Ted) is on "The Ship from Shanghai" and, as you quickly know, he hates snooty rich people – with a passion. "Willowy English girls, fair and pink" arouse Mr. Wolheim, who plans to take over the ship and abduct Ms. Johnson...Making his "all-talking" feature debut, director Charles Brabin is clearly getting his feet wet under the new microphones. He is unable to lead an interesting cast to good, consistent performances. New to motion pictures, Johnson comes across best; she had just co-starred with Mr. Nagel in Cecil B. DeMille's "Dynamite" (1929). Watching Nagel's career falter is sad; he was an engaging and popular actor. "Silent" film stars Carmel Myers and Holmes Herbert (as Viola and Paul Thorpe) attend to the secondary roles, with veteran stage actress Zeffie Tilbury on board as an old society lady. Some of the acting works better with the sound turned down, but some is just overwrought, period.**** The Ship from Shanghai (1/31/30) Charles Brabin ~ Louis Wolheim, Kay Johnson, Conrad Nagel, Carmel Myers

I guess I am in the minority. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, an early look at mutiny and class disparity. I disagree with other reviewers, in that I didn't find myself sympathetic to either side. I also disagree that somehow the movie takes a turn toward the rich side of the argument. I find both sides were equally abominable even and up until the end. It is a very interesting look at an issue that is very poignant even in 1930.The rich are still feeling their superiority and the workers are merely asking for their equal treatment. The workers are asking for respect, to not be called "beast" and "monster". The rich do not seem to understand that even at the end. It's unfortunate that many people cannot see that this is all that they want. Both sides are equally duplicitous through the entire movie.

Thuggish steward (Louis Wolheim) leads a mutiny aboard a yacht. The first half of the film makes us kind of hate the rich passengers on the yacht, particularly the insipid romance of Conrad Nagel and Kay Johnson. But after the mutiny the film seems to shift sympathies back to them and away from the highly entertaining power-hungry steward. The whole movie centers on Louis Wolheim's intense performance. Wolheim died the year after this was released. I was surprised to find out he was actually a math teacher at Cornell before his acting career. This is an OK movie considering the age. It creaks a little but not as badly as some claim. Amusingly, despite living under harsh conditions adrift at sea for days or weeks with very little water or food, neither Nagel nor Johnson ever have their hair mussed up.

Early talkie could have been good but the hideous performance of Louis Wolheim and bad direction kill this effort despite some good work by Kay Johnson, Zeffie Tilbury, and Carmel Myers. Even Conrad Nagel is not all that bad, but the endless monologues of Wolheim kill any tempo this film might have had plus he's just plain bad. This is one of several talkie flops that ruined Nagel's starring career; this is also Myers' first major talkie. Too bad. She was interesting. Johnson has a couple of dynamite scene, and Tilbury (famous as the grandmother in The Grapes of Wrath a decade later) is awfully good as Lady Daley. Holmes Herbert, Jack MacDonald, and Ivan Linow co-star.