Made during Pabst's sojourn in France-with exteriors filmed in Hanoi and China-Shanghai Drama is "the exile film to end all exile films, made on a Paris soundstage with a cast and crew of Austrians, Indochinese, and White Russians. This reverse Casablanca is the sort of minor masterpiece auteurists cherish, haunting confession in the guise of a despised genre work" (J. Hoberman). Louis Jouvet is the deliciously cynical Ivan, part of a Russian refugee spy ring in Shanghai who, in order to eat, serve at the pleasure of the Japanese "Black Dragon" terrorist society. The plot revolves around a sad-eyed, sequined cabaret singer (Christiane Mardayne) who tries to extricate herself before the Sino-Japanese War begins. Pabst left Germany only to be censored by the French, his film re-cut. But as Nora Sayre advises in the New York Times, "ignore the muddles and savor the cast of characters."