Piccadilly

An enjoyable film with some great characters and an interesting story. The version I saw has an inappropriate and often irritating score that sounds about forty years too modern, and drastically takes away from the flapper-age energy and dance scenes. The beginning of the film is tedious, choosing to dwell a bit long on setting the scene, but once the main characters are introduced and the story begins to unfold, it captures and holds your attention.

Anna May Wong contributes the film's best performance. She has that rare, powerful aura that illuminates the screen, like Greta Garbo or Louise Brooks. When her character, Sho-Sho, is in a scene, you can only focus on her, and she carries you away with intensity conveyed by only the merest subtle expression.

The other actors were "okay" but nothing special. The characters of Victor and Mabel, presumably popular and adored dancers, failed to convince me that they had any charisma whatsoever. Sho-Sho's scenes with Valentine, the club owner who wants to make her a star (and his lover) are mesmerising, showing passion and titillating innuendo. But the really interesting relationship is that of Sho-Sho with "Jim", a Chinese fellow who seems to live with her -- is he a brother? a lover? it is unclear, but he is totally submissive to her and proud and jealous at the same time. She treats him like a dog, but they obviously have a close bond and need each other.

As a film in general, "Picadilly" is lacking on a few levels, but it is completely redeemed by Anna May Wong's presence. I can't give it a high rating overall, but I highly recommend it to Anna May Wong fans.

As a way of telling a story, Piccadilly is an eye-opener. E.A. Dupont's camera, lighting, and tracking shots seem brand new for their time. Every scene thoughtfully composed, using foreground furniture or beaded curtains or half-shadow light to discreetly dramatize the "naughtiness" of its theme. The film is silent (with a haunting, jazzy score) made in 1929, 2 years after the birth of sound, but the restoration of this film is beautifully and carefully rendered. The acting, by "silent" standards, is subtly displayed and truthfully acted. Anna Mae Wong is certainly sexy. There is a kissing scene which occurs underneath a newspaper that leaves much to the imagination.

For me it was a wonderful discovery (on TCM).

PICCADILLY (1929), a fun-to-watch account of a sexual triangle which unfolds, to fatal effect, in a London nightclub - all pencil thin moustaches, louche owners and jazz dancing. As directed by Dupont it is a film which showcases its lurid (if ultimately unconvincing) storyline very well and entertainingly enough, even if one can imagine a Von Sternberg version using the same elements, which included orientalism in the form of Anna May Wong as an exotic temptress, much more effectively. Dupont's career went off the boil at the end of the silent era, previously however he had notable successes with this sort of thriller-esquire showbiz material as VARIETE. PICCADILLY also features a notable cameo from Charles Laughton as a drunk man with a dirty plate.

This is the kind of film that would have made a great early sound movie. If you get the DVD release, you may be somewhat put off by the score - I know I was. There are two major musical numbers in the film, and it would have really accentuated them to have the music of the times in the film rather than the modern score that just doesn't seem to fit. Unfortunately, British films didn't convert to sound until 1930, so this film remains as a "silent musical".

It's a very good film that is basically about how life goes on, and today's celebrities and scandals are quickly forgotten tomorrow. It also shows the flimsy basis in many cases for being considered talented. The female headliner of the night club is basically there because she is the owner's girlfriend and is being carried to a large degree by her dance partner. When he decides to leave England and try to make it on Broadway, the owner knows the score and seeks a novelty to fill in what he has lost. He sees Anna May Wong's character dancing in the night club scullery and fires her for it, but later he realizes that maybe an exotic act is what he needs to draw an audience. He rehires her as a dancer. He is captivated by both the girl and her act, and at this point the film takes a sharp turn and becomes a bit of a crime drama and mystery.

Anna May Wong is probably the only performer most American audiences will recognize with one fleeting exception. At the beginning of the film there is a heavyset customer of the nightclub who is complaining about a dirty dish. That complaining customer is Charles Laughton in a very small and very early role.

The nominal star of "Piccadilly" is Gilda Gray, but the real star of the film is Anna May Wong. She has the major part and shows her superior acting ability. In most of her film appearances she is cast as a villainess, a sinister two-dimensional oriental woman, but here she is given full rein and shows that she can carry a picture. She was given only one starring role with her name above the title, in "Daughter Of The Dragon" two years later. She, of course, played a two-dimensional oriental villainess.

She is beautiful as a British cabaret dancer who captivates the club's owner (Jameson Thomas). In one scene she lets her shoulder-length hair down, and she is gorgeous. He throws off his Caucasian girlfriend, which doesn't sit well with her. Strife and bitterness take hold as the story descends into melodrama. This is your best chance to see Anna May Wong at her best, and imagine what her career might have been.