Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Complex plot in excellent late silent , 17 Nov 2007
Filmed at the very start of the talkie era Piccadilly was released in both silent and talkie version this is the silent version.
Anna May Wong dominates the film as Sho Sho a Chinese dancer but there are other fine performances from Jameson Thomas as "Valentine Wimot" the owner of the Piccadilly night club. The excellent scenes in the Piccadilly take us back to the exuberance of the flapper era, although the famed exotic dancing of Wong falls a little short of modern concepts.
For a silent film "Piccadilly" has complex relationships, especially between Sho Sho and Jim (King Hou Chang) who seems to live with her and could be either her lover or her brother.
We are fortunate that the fine production, acting and sets are presented in a near perfect tinted transfer.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hidden gem, 21 Sep 2007
I only found out about this film very recently whilst rediscovering my love of the silent era. It is a truly great film full of style and imagination, a great tale well told and very modern in it's daring to take on the issue of multi-cultural relationships. This is a unique view of Britain in the jazz age. It amazes me that films like this, part of a great treasure trove of British silent films, are so little known and most are often not available on DVD.
And i must take issue with the review before this one, who praises the film (and quite rightly in my view) but goes on to say; 'That said, much of this is due to a German director & the imported PRESENCE of Anna Mae Wong & Gilda Gray.' I don't think such a commet gives credit to the story (written by an Brit), nor the sets, the cinematography, etc. Films are more than just a couple of actors and a director.
This seems to me to be part of the ongoing belief that Britain didn't produce much in the way of great films in that era and it was down to foreigners to take the lead; if it's good thats because talent was imported. This is surely the same as saying 'Greed', one of the greatest of all silent movies, is only great because of the imported talents of the Austrian director and British lead actor and detracting from the fact that Hollywood produced (admittedly against it's own will) a landmark masterpiece.
If you are reading this its probably because you have an interest in silent films and i can wholeheartedly recommend Matthew Sweet's documentary 'Silent Britain'and reading the first third of his book 'Shepperton Babylon,' both of which totally changed my view of early British film making and made me realise what is lost and often denegrated.
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jazz Age Britain revealed, 26 Jun 2005
Anyone expecting the wooden acting, cardboard sets, dodgy back-projections & fixed cameras of other British silents of the 20s will be blown away by the emotive performances & technical expertise of this film. Beautiful camera-work, colour-tinting to establish time & place, location shooting, an almost documentary feel at times,star quality in the acting, interesting take on inter-racial relationships(rarely even acknowledged at the time).That said, much of this is due to a German director & the imported PRESENCE of Anna Mae Wong & Gilda Gray. But why don't they just put the dialogue on screen as subtitles on the DVD rather than retain the clumsy device of inserted dialogue cards? It could even be expanded from the original, particularly if Arnold Bennett's screenplay is still in existence, without slowing down the action. I was intrigued by the inclusion of the Prologue to the sound version among the extras. Does any more of this version exist?
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