Piccadilly

Released Jun 1, 1929

1h 32m

Crime

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

80%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

75%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) owns a nightclub featuring dancers Mabel (Gilda Gray) and Vic (Cyril Ritchard). After a confrontation with Wilmot, Vic quits performing at the club. When the joint starts losing business, a desperate Wilmot hires former dishwasher Shosho (Anna May Wong) as a dancer. She is an instant hit and forms a rapport with Wilmot, which makes both Mabel and Shosho's friend (King Ho Chang) jealous, leading to a mysterious murder.

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Times (UK) Staff

Times (UK)

It is rare, as here, to wish for more captions, but one would give a great deal for words from [screenwriter Arnold] Bennett which might enliven these waste lands.

Jul 8, 2020

Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Dupont has an original way of employing camera movement to suggest erotic chemistry between characters, and Wong, who even provoked a rave notice from Walter Benjamin, is as memorable and confident as Louise Brooks was in the films of G.W. Pabst.

Feb 2, 2011

Full Review

TIME Staff

TIME Magazine

Like most English pictures, the drama is crudely shaped and conventionally directed. Anna May Wong does the best acting.

Feb 2, 2011

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Cinematographer Werner Brandes manages to capture early-20th-century London in all its nocturnal resplendence and cityscape swagger.

Rated: 3/4

Oct 24, 2023

Full Review

Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

...a neglected film that blossoms under the re-mastered treatment...

Rated: 4/5

Jun 22, 2021

Full Review

Hugh Castle

Close Up

There must be something wrong somewhere. Piccadilly was lavishly praised by the critics. The public looked as though they paid money to see it. I thought it was one of the world's worst.

Jan 14, 2021

Full Review

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william d

An enjoyable tale of jealousy leading to a murder mystery. The restored version really makes the movie look great. One disappointment: Charles Laughton has star billing but he's barely in it.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Anna May Wong is sensationally good in this film. The Hays Code's racist rules severely restricted her career in America - after 1934 a part like this would have been impossible because of the mixed race relationship depicted, and she largely got stuck in B Movies. Seeing this you understand what a tragic waste that was.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

wonderful silent era British murder mystery film. Love the background, about a club with dance performances... Anna May Wong is terrific as the chinese dancer. Charles Laughton has a guest appearance. Well done.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This silent film from 1929 was quite a treat. To start with, it has a starring role for Anna May Wong and a supporting role for King Hou Chang that doesn't show them in horribly stereotypical ways, as many other films from this period do. That was the reason Wong had moved to Europe a year before, and she absolutely lights up every scene she's in. I loved how her character is not only a sex symbol, but also strong and intelligent. It's also impressive that at a time in movies and society when many were strongly against 'miscegenation', director Ewald André Dupont clearly indicates that she and a white man have sex, though he cuts away just before an interracial kiss. And in general, the film doesn't condone any racism. There is a scene in a blue collar pub where a white woman comes in off the street and begins dancing with a black man, and he's then kicked out, but here we feel compassion for him, and Dupont's hand in juxtaposing it with the racial dynamic of the main characters. The film plods along at times and you have to be patient with it. It is a little uneven, but you'll notice Dupont using techniques that feel ahead of their time - fast cuts, dissolves, long shots, flashbacks, and some great camera angles. Several times he puts us 'behind the scenes' or in places with common people, which feel (and probably were) highly authentic. Wong's main dance number seems to be a strange mix of Thai and Hawaiian, but it's certainly interesting to watch, and is no more odd than a lot of the other dancing shown in this movie and others from the period. I also loved how Dupont how shot the scene, including a shot of her shadow. The trial at the end seems to drag things on unnecessarily, but includes a nice plot twist. Sure, it all could have been tightened up, but considering it for the time, and the fantastic role and performance Wong gives, it gets a high review score from me.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

reel good vehicle for Asian star (the first here in the US) she even gets billing over the title

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This one was an enthusiastic recommendation made by a friend. A night club owner replaces his main dancer/paramour with a Chinese girl and starts a romance with her triggering a series of complications. The film of course is kind of a melodrama, something we've seen a lot but the performances make it work. Anna May Wong one of the few non-whites to be have prominent work in this era is especially terrific. The film handles the theme of interracial romance, certainly very controversial in its time, quite surprisingly well considering (though I had some problems with the ending). Overall, a very good film.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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E.A. Dupont

Director

Gilda Gray

Mabel Greenfield

Jameson Thomas

Valentine Wilmot

Anna May Wong

Sho-Sho

King Hoo Chang

Jim

Cyril Ritchard

Victor Smiles

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Synopsis

Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) owns a nightclub featuring dancers Mabel (Gilda Gray) and Vic (Cyril Ritchard). After a confrontation with Wilmot, Vic quits performing at the club. When the joint starts losing business, a desperate Wilmot hires former dishwasher Shosho (Anna May Wong) as a dancer. She is an instant hit and forms a rapport with Wilmot, which makes both Mabel and Shosho's friend (King Ho Chang) jealous, leading to a mysterious murder.

Director: E.A. Dupont
Screenwriter: Arnold Bennett
Distributor: Milestone Film & Video
Production Co: British International Pictures
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 1, 1929, Wide
Release Date (DVD): Mar 1, 2005
Runtime: 1h 32m