Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Boring

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"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.

This is an absolutely superb film, far too little known and still much underestimated. It is of particular interest as it was made on what you might call the fragile border of the European cinema tradition in the land that has so often, politically, economically and culturally been the Continent's US "Trojan Horse". But it was made at a particular moment when the British had, briefly at any rate, partially escaped their infeodation vis-à-vis the United States and become more open to tbe influence of other European cinema. It was a period (1928-1933) when a real effort at inra-European co-operation was being made (at least in th world of cinema), when there were many co-productions, often resulting in multiple versions of films in different languages (mainlyl French, German and English) and with slightly different casts in each country.Although this film does not come in that category, it was one of several films made in Britain at this time by German directors, which clearly show the influence of German cinema, in the superb cinematography, in the emphasis on "ensemble" acting, in the relatively slow pace and, for most of the film, lack of melodramatic action. The editing and the use of close-up, in the European manner, does not privilege "continuity" (ping-ponging backwards and forwards between the characters in the classic US fashion) but instead concentrates on "connectivity" (psychological and thematic relevance). The influence of naturalism (most strongly associated with Germany at this time under the name "neue Sachlichgkeit" or "new objectivity") is there, in, for instance, the fine scene set in a lower-class London dance-hall. Subjects are introduced that would have been taboo for US film-makers (the raising of the issue of racial prejudice and racial segregation in that same scene)and, while the style is delightfully elliptical and non-explicit, the film has a sexual pulse that is again typical of European film, while US equivalents rarely rise above mild prurience.Dupont was a fine director both with regard to cinematography and with regard to acting and this is clear from the performances he elicits from all the principals, in all there cases better performances than they would produce or, in where Wong was concerned, be given the chance to produce, in any other films. Since the comparison with Von Sternberg has been raised by other viewers, I have to say that I find Piccadilly distinctly superior to any of Von Sternberg's silent films and better indeed than anything Von Sternberg ever did with the exception - admittedly a very notable one - of his one German film, Der blaue Engel. If Dupont's career went down the drain it was through little fault of his own. Both he and Anna May Wong were notable casualties of the restrictive US system and in both cases it represented a shameful waste of talent. Wong's story is well known - how racism and stereotyping ensured that she never came near to fulfilling her potential.Dupont was a casualty of a certain Herr Hitler who took it into his head to destroy what was, to my mind incontestably, the finest cinema industry of the world at the time. He became part of the great exodus of talent from Germany that would be the US' great gain but a gain it often did not know how properly to profit from. While it is true some German/Austrian/Hungarian expatriates had little problem with the restrictive nature of Hollywood cinema, notably "the playboy Lubitsch" (as Graham Greene once called him, who had come to the US rather earlier (1926) and of his own accord and could adapt to anything. Eclectic directors who did not much mind what they worked on or how it was chopped about (Michael Curtiz for instance) fared well enough. Younger directors, who had had relatively little experience of the German system (Billy Wilder for example) also adapted without problems.But for many the US experience was something of a nightmare after the much freer and more expressive cinema world they were used to. Even F. W.Murnau who came at around the same time as Lubitsch and been given unusual lattitude because he was regarded as such a valuable "catch", after making one of his best films (Sunrise), soon found himself at continual loggerheads with the US production system. Fritz Lang, whose first US film, Fury, is also arguably the best of those he made there, had a successful enough career on the surface but talked long and often of the bitterness and artistic frustration he felt over his US experience. Dupont, who had had little success with an earlier US film (1927), was not regarded as a "catch" in the same way and found himself relegated after 1933 to the making of B-films. It is possible to make excellent B-films (another expatriate Edgar Ullmer is a fine but rare example) but it was not easy and required a very particular, almost perverse, talent that Dupont lacked. Sickened by the experience, he abandoned directing almost completely in 1940 (making only a couple of bread-and-butter films again at the end of his life.It is rather fitting that, in 1929, Britain, a sort of halfway-house in some sense, should have provided a haven both for Dupont and Wong to show what exceptional talents they both were.

I don't know who the clothing designer was but Anna May Wong looked simply fabulous as the sinuous Oriental dancer, Shosho. It was ironic that Anna had to travel to England to be given a flesh and blood role that allowed her to give an in-depth characterization. Of course after this it was back to America where, apart from the title role in "Daughter of the Dragon", it was back to stereo typical Oriental temptress roles - and she even had to compete with Myrna Loy for a time. She was literally given the role of a lifetime in this superb film. Art direction by Alfred Junge has a very decadent 20s Art Nouveau look and the photography by Werner Brandes captures the high society of London's West End ("This Year of Grace" is playing) to the seedy cabaret life of "my Piccadilly" as Valentine says. Director E.A. Dupont can point to this as a career highlight in a mostly unsatisfactory career. Eventually ending up in Hollywood, the director of the magnificent "Varietie" and "Atlantic" was given directorial assignments of the calibre of "Ladies Must Love" and even "Hell's Kitchen" featuring the Dead End Kids. Initially going to Hollywood in 1927 after his triumph with "Varietie", he left in disappointment after being given a sentimental melodrama to direct. He went to England and set up his own distribution company - World Wide Pictures - "Photoplays Made Where the Story's Laid" and the first movie made was "Moulin Rouge". Even though it was filmed mostly at Elstree, it was a great success and for his next movie Dupont turned to an actual locale in London with Piccadilly. The film was based on a novel by Arnold Bennett and the author also supplied his own scenario.Vic and Mabel (Cyril Richard and Gilda Gray), the top dance act, are the talk of the town - so say the patrons of the Piccadilly Club. And what a club, with an inhouse orchestra of the DeBroy Somers Band (they were one of Britain's premier dance bands of the 20s, it was a pity some of their music couldn't have been incorporated into the soundtrack instead of the rather cheesy score). With a curved balcony and arched staircase overlooking a magnificent ballroom, the setting is super. Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) is the jaded manager (is there any other kind)??? - as one diner says he started the club and he made it!!!An incident involving a dirty plate (Charles Laughton has a cameo as a disgruntled customer) leads Valentine to the scullery where he discovers Shosho (Wong). Her tantalizing dancing on the tabletop distracts the dishwashers from their work so when Victor departs for America, hoping to leave the club in the lurch, Valentine brings in Shosho as his new dancing star. Mabel (who has a secret yen for Valentine) is horrified - "She can't dance, they'll laugh at her - and you!!" Of course Shosho is a sensation, her shimmering dance leaves the audience spellbound and Mabel distraught as she knows she will no longer be the toast of London!!!Valentine now begins an affair with Shosho - her "intended", Jim, is unhappy, he accidentally sees the mascot he gave her, a tiny Buddha, in Valentine's office - she said she lost it, but someone else is not quite pleased about it either!!! The sensational ending is soon yesterday's news as an excited tipster in more concerned with his race winnings than the sordid headlines and as the new variety show says "Life Goes On"!!!Jameson Thomas was dissatisfied with his career in British movies so went to Hollywood where he was continually cast as a villain or lounge lizard ("Extravagance", "It Happened One Night"). Gilda Gray had a patchy career - her private life was far more exciting but all her movies gave her a chance to dance the shimmy - the dance she made famous!!!

I first saw this film at the live premiere of Neil Brand's new jazz score; everyone was raving about it but I felt I must be missing something, and put it down to the music. (Attractive jazz, but not especially closely tied in to the action -- I've heard Neil Brand do immeasurably better on the piano.) Having seen it again I think I've worked out what's wrong, and it wasn't the music at all. In fact, with hindsight, the new score had actually managed to improve the film.The trouble with this picture -- apart of course from the hand-waving explanation at the ending, worthy of Agatha Christie at her most contrived -- is its characters. Specifically, the reason why I don't warm to this 'classic', for all its technical experimentation and fluid deployment of intertitles, is that there are simply no characters whom I actually like and/or care about, so I find it very hard to get engaged in what happens to them.Mabel is a manipulative drama queen who only got where she is by sleeping with the boss; she comes across as so artificial and dislikeable in the early scenes that it is impossible to feel much sympathy for her downfall. Jim, the other character who is in some sense a victim of events, is largely a background cipher, and while his situation is unenviable we don't get enough sense of him as a person, let alone of his relationship with Shosho, to be able to empathise with his prolonged attempts at strangulation. Victor (expertly played by stage dancing star Cyril Ritchard, of whom we see too little) is clearly a cad, while Valentine Wilmot is a predatory middle-aged employer. Shosho, whom one might expect to be the heroine, turns out to be as manipulative, bitchy and grasping as Mabel. All in all they are none of them very attractive, and the films fails to enlist audience sympathies to follow the fate of any one of them.Perhaps it's childish of me, but I find that I need to become exercised over the outcome for the characters in order to find any emotional appeal in a film. "Piccadilly" I find a strangely unmoving spectacle.On rewatching I also find it hard to see the purpose of the lengthy 'interracial' sequence at the bar, other than politics. If the intent is (very obliquely) to illustrate that it will not be acceptable for Shosho to have a public relationship with a white man, then it's odd that this element turns out to be almost completely irrelevant to the events that in fact transpire. The barrier that Shosho has to overcome is that of her working-class origin rather than her foreign face: given the plot as written, she could equally well be a little Cockney ballet dancer (like Jessie Matthews, busy starring at that time in "This Year of Grace") picked out of the gutter by a wealthy patron as a speciality act to put the established performers' noses out of joint.On reflection I think I'd revise my original vote downwards to 6/10; worth watching out of curiosity if it turns up, but not worth seeking out. (But watch for the background period detail! -- including the famous "Centre of the World" sign on the London Pavilion...)