Director: E.A. DUPONT. Screenplay: Arnold Bennett. Photography: Werner Brandes. Film editor: J.W. McConaughty. Art director: Alfred Junge. Assistant director: Edmond T. Greville. Producer: E.A. Dupont.A British International Picture. Copyright 29 July 1929 by World Wide Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Little Carnegie Playhouse: 14 July 1929. U.K. release through Wardour Films Ltd: February 1929. 110 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Nightclub owner (Jameson Thomas) splits up a successful dance duo (Gilda Gray and Cyril Ritchard) when he falls for the girl himself. As a result, patronage decreases to a point where he is forced to seize upon some novelty attraction (Anna May Wong).COMMENT: This celebrated movie, scripted by the critically acclaimed yet popular novelist Arnold Bennett, turns out to be every bit as rapturous as its reputation thanks to the wonderfully charismatic performance of the entrancing Anna May Wong as the second lead. The top-billed Gilda Gray is not a quarter as fascinating, though Jameson Thomas, Cyril Ritchard and most particularly King Ho-Chang offer burning-bright Miss Wong excellent support. (Charles Laughton has only a small but effective role as an angry diner who kicks up a fuss over a dirty plate). The blissfully smooth direction by E.A. Dupont comes across as nothing short of startling in its thoroughly realistic yet rhapsodic pictorial effects. No expense has been spared on both luxurious and extensively squalid sets and costumes. The film editing is smooth as Chinese silk, whilst the beautiful photography with its tinted hues of gold and purple caresses the senses as it creates a riveting atmosphere of triangular payback and intrigue.

"Just imagine the whole place being upset by one little Chinese girl in the scullery."Pretty easy to imagine, actually, the Chinese girl being Anna May Wong.But this would be a powerful, sad, beautiful film even without her. Superbly directed by E.A. Dupont, a sort of forgotten master of German Expressionism, with swish pans revealing the relationships between characters, tracking shots inviting the viewer into other worlds, low angles revealing significance of event and character. And some shots just plain beautiful.Much nuance here--this film only gets deeper on multiple viewings.And perhaps one of the most erotic scenes in cinema--mostly with a hand--AMW's hand of course.Gender identity buffs take note of Jimmy.The composer's commentary track is insightful, but as for the music: hit the mute button and put on Satie instead. Really. Satie will reveal much that's otherwise not revealed by the visuals.And without going on too much about it, but: Anna May Wong.

There are three reasons to watch Piccadilly, a 1929 British silent backstage melodrama. The performance of Anna May Wong is primary. She's a knockout as Shosho, a Chinese dishwasher in a posh London nightclub who gets a chance to show how she can dance, and then becomes a star. Wong is so charismatic, so fine a performer and so confident an actress, that you might wonder whatever happened to her. But there's more to Piccadilly than Wong. Perhaps not too much, but enough to enjoy the passing parade of dated movie choreography and the moody atmosphere of transplanted German expressionism. The downside is the story...one of those behind-the-scenes melodramas of entertainers and impresarios, stilted and dated, filled with tremulous glances, suspicious glares, clutched hankies and faces turned away. Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) owns the Piccadilly Club, the poshest of the posh, where the sophisticates of London crème de la crème, dressed to the nines, come to dance and dine, and to watch Mabel & Vic, "London's Greatest Dance Attraction." Wilmot is a tough, smooth, perfectionist. He made the Piccadilly what it is. He discovered Mabel Greenfield (Gilda Gray) and made stars out of her and her dance partner, Vic Smiles (Cyril Ritchard). While he appreciates Mabel's talents, his nightclub comes first. Mabel really loves the guy and Vic really loves Mabel. ("My dear, I'm simply mad about you!") One night a diner is given a dirty plate. He makes a scene; Wilmot is furious and storms into the kitchen and scullery. There he sees Shosho, dancing on a table for the other workers when she should have been washing dishes. He fires her. Then he has second thoughts. Shosho has something that the impresario in Wilmot tells him might make a star attraction...exotic, sensuous, unusual. It's not long before Shosho is a smash. By this time Vic has left, Shosho finds it no trouble at all to delightfully snare Wilmot (in probably the best scene in the movie) and Mabel is jealous. Into this hot stew of fervid emotions, a shot rings out, scandal ensues, a trial is held...justice, both criminal and moral, is served up. And in that great tradition of melodramatic showbiz...life goes on with a million more stories undoubtedly waiting to be told. The storyline is a slog. Still, the big dance number with Mabel & Vic at the start of the movie is a delight of dated style. Mabel and Vic each come prancing down the two grand staircases that bracket the Piccadilly's elegant dance floor, he in tails, she in a swirling gown, and off they go. It's one of those tricky, ricky-ticky fast numbers where elbows and feet fly about, complete with winking glances of mischievous fun. It goes on and on, with Vic and Mabel each having a chance to shine. Mabel flirts and shows her legs. Vic with slicked back hair seductively grins with the silent nasal charm of Jack Buchanan or Noël Coward. It's the kind of well-meaning, "classy" dance that Fred Astaire drove a stake through four years later in Flying Down to Rio. However, watch this number with affection. It does no harm and at one time held the paying movie customers in thrall. The look of the film is all moody atmosphere. This isn't enough to salvage the movie by itself, but it gives Piccadilly a lot of visual class. And then there's Anna May Wong, an actress of talent, style and screen presence. She's featured in the billing but she dominates the movie. She comes straight through the camera to us, sexy and innocent, calculating and surprised, whose dancing captures us and whose acting tells us here is a woman to pay attention to. As an actress of Chinese descent, she hadn't a chance in Hollywood except as a stereotype. In the Twenties she finally left for Europe and had a few star roles in Germany and England, but then returned to Hollywood with a contract that seemed to assure her of star Hollywood roles. The contract didn't say major star roles with star male leads. She lost the leads in The Good Earth and Dragon Seed because producers said she looked too Chinese. She had to watch as Luise Rainer and Katherine Hepburn starred, both gussied up in some of the oddest "Chinese" eyelids and makeup Hollywood ever devised. Anna May Wong wound up playing characters with names like Su Lin, Lin Ying, Lan Ying and, in an explosion of Hollywood creativity, Lan Ying Lin. (I'm not kidding: Impact, Bombs Over Burma, Dangerous to Know and Daughter of Shanghai.) Then there was Ling Moy, Kim Ling, A-hsing, Lois Ling and, of course, Chinese Woman. (Daughter of the Dragon, Island of Lost Men, The Barbara Stanwyck Show, Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery and Producers' Showcase) So put Piccadilly in the DVD player, probably with your finger on the fast-forward button, to watch Mabel & Vic in their big number and, most of all, to watch a woman who could have been a great star if it hadn't been for Hollywood. The DVD restoration looks much better than one might expect. However, you'll probably best enjoy the screen music, written for the restoration, if you also enjoy the incessant chatter of those golf announcers who can't keep their mouths shut. The music never stops. This is one DVD where it pays to watch the extras before you watch the movie. The audio is not good on "Dangerous to Know: The Life and Legacy of Anna May Wong," but the feature is informative.

This film is Anna May Wong's triumph, but it's worth looking at for the qualities and themes that interested Arnold Bennett. There are quite a few: Bennett's interest in- and relish for- ambition, success, work, rising through the class structure, material pleasure comes over strongly. Indeed, in many ways these are more strongly emphasised than the racial elements. Shosho is just as firmly placed as working-class as Chinese. When she succeeds she becomes "Miss Shosho", not "Shosho"- in fact it is only through success that she can "become" Chinese. When we first see her she is drably and conventionally dressed, with laddered stockings and her body and hands are awkwardly carried; she lives in a squalid room; when she has succeeded she can decorate her flat with Chinoiserie. I would not be surprised if the character of Shosho was not Chinese in the original script but was adapted to suit Anna May Wong. There is only one scene where the racial elements are emphasised- where a black man and a white woman are thrown out of a pub for dancing together- and the scene's sympathy is with the couple, not "morality". Equally, Shosho's relationship with Jim makes it plain that he is important in her success as well as a strong personality in his own right. Valentine too is shown as someone who has worked for his success- the first half hour of the film places him in the club he has "made"; he first encounters Shosho after a complaint from Charles Laughton as the customer from hell which he deals with ruthlessly by firing Shosho from the scullery. Valentine's two sexual relationships are with women he has created. The dancing is disappointing- Vic and Mabel are skilled enough, but we don't believe they are the toast of London and Shosho's dance is no more convincing as an astonishing and fascinating contrast, but if we suspend disbelief here it's worth doing so. The direction is well-done with skilled and delicate touches of characterisation and placing and the camera-work is good with virtuoso flourishes on the dance floor and the film ends with another touch of Bennett- sandwich-men carrying placards for a show called "Life Goes On" past a newspaper with details of Shosho's and Jim's deaths.