JohnHowardReid 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.

m_n_tomlinson Piccadilly is one of the finest silent films ever made, and easily the best British one! The fact that it's not even listed in Silent Era's website top 100 films is a travesty, when instead it is filled with so much outmoded junk! It's far superior and sophisticated than say Hitchcock's 'The Lodger', which is ranked as Britain's top silent film. The Lodger is in fact a pretty juvenile fare, much like a Lon Chaney film, complete with cartoon characters, and an overused clichéd lynch mob chase! It would be some time before Hitchcock would mature into the master he would eventually become. In the meantime It's very hard for me to explain why Piccadilly is such pure film. First off, the The acting is first class and very modern, with perhaps Gilda Gray being the weakest link. Cyril Ritchard (who would eventually play Peter Pan's Captain Hook on stage and TV), Jameson Thomas, and King Hou Chang as Jim are all superbly cool! As for Anna May Wong, this is probably her finest hour! Her portrayal as a devilishly, devious minx again is first class, but she's so compelling and visually stunning in this film that's she's iconic! It's also a very cosmopolitan film, but more importantly it's a film about London. Here we get a dual glimpse of a modern jazz age night club, and an alter ego antediluvian world of Limehouse. I could witter on for hours about the merits and greatness of this film, but suffice to say I'll just stop here and say that vision, modernity and transcendence are the key to the success of this film, and leave you with the words of Sam Spade from the Maltese Falcon, that this film is indeed 'the stuff that dreams are made of'.

calvinnme 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.

Neil Doyle ANNA MAY WONG, JAMESON THOMAS and GILDA GRAY are at the center of a love triangle in PICCADILLY, a silent film that is much more modern in style than most films of the period. The tempo is a bit faster paced than usual (although there are still spots that drag), and the character relationships are not explored fully, which makes the ending rather ambiguous when the murderer turns out to be a character never fully defined.But somehow these murky elements don't effect the overall power of the storytelling here. It starts briskly with some quick views of the Piccadilly area of London at night (tinted blue) accompanied by a perky score that is sometimes a bit too busy throughout. After the credits it switches to sepia for much of the story involving a nightclub act by GILDA GRAY and CYRIL RITCHARD that is disbanded when manager JAMESON THOMAS discharges Ritchard who is becoming too attached to his dancing partner. Thomas then happens to spy ANNA MAY WONG giving an impromptu dance before her co-workers in the galley and decides to hire her as a dance specialty, much to the dismay of Gilda Gray.Wong performs an erotic dance in gilded Chinese costume in an extraordinarily well photographed scene which is met with audience approval and this sets up the jealousy angle between Wong and Gray. In the meantime, we catch the furtive glances of a Chinese man who assists Anna's act and seems intent on throwing dagger-like glances at the manager whom he knows is entering into a romantic relationship with her.The end result is a crime of passion that is handled with some subtlety by director Arnold Bennett. There's an almost Agatha Christie touch to the courtroom ending which has a plot twist for a final surprise.As others have said, this is indeed a "hidden treasure" among the silent screen films and is really worth watching unless silent films are not your thing at all. The background score is a bit too busy at times but it does help to set the mood for many of the club scenes.