Piccadilly 1929

Marta Barber, Miami Herald: A swinging London club; the breakup of a famous performing couple; a well-known dancer being replaced by one younger and more exotic; a murder. All juicy fodder for plot, and it's a good thing. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: [Wong's] role of Shosho, the red-hot dancing star of London's Piccadilly nightclub, shows her at her dramatic and erotic peak. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: Wong is the kind of gorgeous that burns right through a camera lens, and the kind of mesmerizing that seems without effort or end. Read more

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. Read more

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

Time Out: The melodramatic machinations of the plot may be weak, but Dupont's assured direction, Alfred Junge's art direction, and Werner Brandes' lighting create an atmosphere so hauntingly evocative as to be satisfying in itself. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Music is the usual medley of pop dance stuff, with the cabaret set about the best thing in the production. Camerawork on close-ups is excellent. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: A visually eloquent and sometimes dazzling backstage melodrama. Read more