Piccadilly
Although she first appeared on screen in 1919, we might only now be ready for Anna May Wong. Though English-language cinemas rarely provided anything other than marginal roles for "Orientals", Wong clearly had the potential to be one of the cinema's most provocative stars. After establishing herself in Douglas Fairbanks' Thief of Bagdad, the American-born actress travelled to Europe in 1929. Here she plays a Limehouse slum-girl whose shimmering eroticism threatens the complacent racial superiority of the British theatre. She must be punished of course, and in the desperation of this manoeuvre, the tenuous thread by which British colonialism hangs becomes only too clear.
Reviews
“A genuine revelation to me. It's a bold, beautifully crafted, completely modern picture - one of the truly great films of the silent era.”
Martin Scorsese
“[Anna May] Wong is sensationally expressive and projects a modern, coolly appraising sexuality. Visually eloquent and often dazzling, the movie is no less terrific. Piccadilly is both evidence of silent cinema at its rudely aborted peak and Wong's frustrated potential to have been among its greatest stars.”
J. Hoberman, Village Voice
“Far ahead of its time in its treatment of both race and gender.”
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
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When
12:30 PM Tuesday, 22 February
Buy Tickets Online
Greater Union - Cinema 2
Ticket Price
Full price $14
Industry $12
SPU Concession $10
As Part Of
Screen GoddessAbout Piccadilly
110 minutes35mm
1.37:1
Mono
In English
Print Source
British Film Institute
Sue Jones
sue.jones@bfi.org.uk
Festivals
San Francisco Asian American 2004Philadelphia 2004
Cambridge 2004
New York 2003
About the Director
E.A. Dupont
Born in Germany, Ewald André Dupont (1891-1956) worked as an editor for a film journal before going on to write for the screen. One of the most highly acclaimed silent directors, Dupont directed his first film Mitternacht in 1918 before going on to direct the much-admired Vaudeville, Moulin Rouge, Piccadilly and Titanic.
Filmography
Return to Treasure Island (1954)The Steel Lady (1953)
The Neanderthal Man (1953)
Problem Girls (1953)
Pictura (1951)
The Scarf (1951)
Hell's Kitchen (1939)
Love on Toast (1937)
On Such a Night (1937)
Night of Mystery (1937)
A Son Comes Home (1936)
Forgotten Faces (1936)
The Bishop Misbehaves (1936)
Ladies Must Love (1933)
Cape Forlorn (1931)
Atlantis (1930)
Two Worlds (1930)
Titanic (1929)
Piccadilly (1929)
Moulin Rouge (1928)
Love Me and the World is Mine (1928)
Variety (1925)
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