Tonight's Movie: Piccadilly (1929) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

Anna May Wong stars in PICCADILLY (1929), just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber in collaboration with the The Milestone Cinematheque.

This British film from the late silent era is a follow-up to Kino Lorber's release of the three-film Anna May Wong Collection which I reviewed earlier in the year.

I was taken by PICCADILLY from its opening moments showing London's Piccadilly Circus with great clarity. As the opening credits then began, displayed on the side of one of London's famous red busses, I was definitely sold on what proved to be a most entertaining film.

Gilda Gray and Cyril Ritchard play Mabel and Vic, the starring dance act at London's Piccadilly Club. Vic is in love with Mabel, but she loves club owner Valentine (Jameson Thomas).

The jealous Valentine fires Vic, but Mabel's solo act doesn't bring in enough customers. Valentine comes up with the idea of hiring Shosho (Wong), a club scullery maid he'd recently fired for dancing on work time, and her "exotic" dance routine is a sensation.

More romantic entanglements ensue when Valentine and Shosho are highly attracted to one another...leaving both Mabel and Shosho's boyfriend Jim (King Ho Chang) distraught.

I found PICCADILLY an electric, engaging watch, particularly when Wong is onscreen. Beyond Wong, the entire film is creatively staged and shot by director Ewald Andre Dupont and cinematographer Werner Brandes.

It's a stylish and compelling 109 minutes melding romantic melodrama and crime film -- and it certainly leaves the viewer wishing the course of Wong's career had been able to evolve differently.

The score by Neil Brand is excellent as well. I was recently disappointed with the score for another silent film, THE SPANISH DANCER (1923), but this film is at the opposite end of the spectrum, I thought the music worked really well. The scoring during the dance routines is especially effective.

The print, in sepia and blue tints, is one of the better silent movie prints I've seen. I was impressed. It was remastered by the BFI National Archive.

It's worth mentioning that a quarter century later Cyril Ritchard would be known as Captain Hook opposite Mary Martin in Broadway's PETER PAN.

And speaking of well-known actors, look for Charles Laughton in his very first feature film, playing a diner ostentatiously annoyed by a dirty plate. He's perfect. Ray Milland is said to be a nightclub patron as well, but I didn't spot him.

Blu-ray extras include a commentary track by Farran Smith Nehme, aka "The Self-Styled Siren"; the sound prologue to a "music and sound effects" version which followed the initial silent release; a discussion panel on Wong from the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival; and a featurette on score.

Recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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