Watch Piccadilly For Free

Absolutely the worst movie.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

"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.

In London, Mabel Greenfield (Gilda Gray) and her partner Victor Smiles (Cyrill Ritchard) are the lead attractions of the Piccadilly Club with their show of dance, bringing the high-society to watch them dancing and have dinner. Victor is in love with Mabel but she has an affair with the owner of the club Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas). When a client irritated with a dirty plate disturbs the show, Valentine investigates the restaurant and the kitchen, and he finally ends in the scullery where he sees the Chinese dishwasher Shosho (Anna May Wong) dancing on a table and the other employees watching her instead of working. Valentine fires Shosho first and then he fires Victor. However, Mabel alone is incapable to hold the clients and Valentine invites the exotic Shosho to dance in Piccadilly Club. She is acclaimed by the audience and has favorable reviews and sooner she catches Valentine; the envious and jealous Mabel decides to pay a visit to Shosho to tell her that she is in love with Valentine, and a tragedy happens."Piccadilly" is a great silent romance, with a complex screenplay that discloses sexual tension among several characters ending in a tragedy. The story has a scene of racism, when a Caucasian stops the dance of a Caucasian woman with a black man and is moralist in many aspects; but is also suspenseful and not totally dated. The introduction using billboards on the double-decker buses with the presentation of the cast is original. The faces of Gilda Gray and Theresa Russell have slight resemblances. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "Piccadilly"

This film is Anna May Wong's triumph, but it's worth looking at for the qualities and themes that interested Arnold Bennett. There are quite a few: Bennett's interest in- and relish for- ambition, success, work, rising through the class structure, material pleasure comes over strongly. Indeed, in many ways these are more strongly emphasised than the racial elements. Shosho is just as firmly placed as working-class as Chinese. When she succeeds she becomes "Miss Shosho", not "Shosho"- in fact it is only through success that she can "become" Chinese. When we first see her she is drably and conventionally dressed, with laddered stockings and her body and hands are awkwardly carried; she lives in a squalid room; when she has succeeded she can decorate her flat with Chinoiserie. I would not be surprised if the character of Shosho was not Chinese in the original script but was adapted to suit Anna May Wong. There is only one scene where the racial elements are emphasised- where a black man and a white woman are thrown out of a pub for dancing together- and the scene's sympathy is with the couple, not "morality". Equally, Shosho's relationship with Jim makes it plain that he is important in her success as well as a strong personality in his own right. Valentine too is shown as someone who has worked for his success- the first half hour of the film places him in the club he has "made"; he first encounters Shosho after a complaint from Charles Laughton as the customer from hell which he deals with ruthlessly by firing Shosho from the scullery. Valentine's two sexual relationships are with women he has created. The dancing is disappointing- Vic and Mabel are skilled enough, but we don't believe they are the toast of London and Shosho's dance is no more convincing as an astonishing and fascinating contrast, but if we suspend disbelief here it's worth doing so. The direction is well-done with skilled and delicate touches of characterisation and placing and the camera-work is good with virtuoso flourishes on the dance floor and the film ends with another touch of Bennett- sandwich-men carrying placards for a show called "Life Goes On" past a newspaper with details of Shosho's and Jim's deaths.

This isn't a great silent film, but for its time it certainly is one of the better ones. The film is all about a nightclub where a famous but fading lady works as a dancer. Despite the passage of time, she has a hard time admitting that she just doesn't have it like she used to despite the drastic drop-off in customers after her partner left for America. The nightclub owner, on a complete lark, recruits sultry Ann May Wong from the cleanup crew to be his new dancer. Her Asian-inspired dancing was, technically speaking, really awful and silly--but the movie extras sure loved it and she became a star--much to the chagrin of the other lady dancer and Anna's boyfriend. Both these people resented that now Anna and the nightclub owner were becoming very cozy. Ultimately, their feelings of betrayal resulted in tragedy, though you'll have to see for yourself what actually occurs.The acting is pretty good, the sets are also lovely and the story is mildly engaging. Had the film been about singing and not dancing, it wouldn't have worked so well. But with a nice score by Robert Israel, the film is lovely. Too bad Anna had no idea how to dance and no one bothered to show her how!By the way, a there are a few things to look for are in the film. Charles Laughton has a small role as an obnoxious customer and it's his first appearance in a feature film. Also, Anna's boyfriend, Jim, is quite cute when he wears Anna's outfit! And finally, on the inter-title cards, they refer to a pistol as a "revolver" even though it is actually a semi-automatic, not a revolver (a tiny mistake, but one that will make gun enthusiasts cringe).