#E.A. Dupont

[roseillith]

 PICCADILLY  (1929) dir. E.A. DUPONT

[davidhudson]

Ewald André Dupont, December 25, 1891 – December 12, 1956.

Directing The Ancient Law (1923).

[moviesiveseenandwanttoremember]

E.A. Dupont’s “Piccadilly” June 1, 1929.

[the-paradigm-web]

Anna May Wong, actress..

[celebratetheclassics]

Varieté (E.A Dupont, 1925) 

[naldibutnice]

Anna May Wong in Piccadilly (1929) Dir. E.A. Dupont

[babyrel]

Piccadilly, dir. E.A. Dupont (1929)

[dailyworldcinema]

The only surviving excerpt of a documentary on film production in Weimar Germany, featuring the different personalities of several famous directors of the era at work on the set including Fritz Lang, Robert Wiene, and E.A. Dupont. Der Film im Film (1924) Dir. Friedrich Porges

[citizenscreen]

Mercedes McCambridge and John Ireland in THE SCARF (1951), directed by E.A. Dupont

[zazadupont]

HAMLET + OPHELIA

REGIE Mateusz Staniak TEXT The Hamlet Machine (Heiner Müller) e.a. teksten CAST Laura De Geest, Pepijn Korfage, Robin Zaza Launspach, Arne Luiting DRAMATURGY Debbie Oskam SCENOGRAPHY Zaza Dupont LIGHT DESING Zaza Dupont, Mateusz Staniak MUSIC + SOUND George Dhauw VIDEO TECHNIC Jordi Wolswijk COSTUMES Wojciech Dziedzic COSTUME ASSISTANT Leanne Vandenbussche HAIR AND MAKE UP Demi van Rooijen DRESSER Hendrik Nieuwerf PRODUCTIE toneelschuur producties CO PRODUCTIE Internationaal Theater Amsterdam

PICTURES Sanne Peper

[roseillith]

 PICCADILLY  (1929) dir. E.A. DUPONT

[davidhudson]

Ewald André Dupont, December 25, 1891 – December 12, 1956.

[margotfonteyns]

Moulin Rouge (1928)

[mtonino]

Piccadilly (1929) E.A. Dupont

Anna May Wong in Piccadilly (1929)

[lifejustgotawkward]

365 Day Movie Challenge (2018) - #254: Piccadilly (1929) - dir. Ewald André Dupont

I first saw the showbiz drama Piccadilly on TCM many years ago, but when I saw that that same channel was showing the film again last night, I knew that it was high time for me to see it again with fresh eyes. As a longtime fan of Anna May Wong (1905-1961), Hollywood’s first Chinese-American movie star, I wanted to see how her role in Piccadilly as Shosho, the ambitious dishwasher who transforms into a dancer who becomes the toast of London, held up with her most stirring lead performance, as the tragic heroine of the Madama Butterfly remake The Toll of the Sea (1922).

Photographed beautifully by Werner Brandes, Anna May Wong is glorious in Piccadilly, taking full advantage of her chance to be presented as a character who is not a sweet, innocent naïf. Dupont’s film projects Wong as a sex symbol, but not as the usual “dragon lady” stereotype that we would expect from a film made in its era. Shosho wants a taste of the good life, the same luxuries afforded to white female dancing idols like Mabel Greenfield (Gilda Gray), whose place Shosho usurps in the Piccadilly nightclub where they are both employed. Shosho also gains the affections of the club owner, Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas), who happens to be Mabel’s boyfriend. Although director E.A. Dupont was challenged by British censors, who wanted to cut the kiss depicted between Shosho and Valentine in one scene due to existing anti-miscegenation laws in the UK, the lip lock can still be seen for a brief moment. It is a testament to artists who were willing to break boundaries in a prejudiced culture.

Dupont didn’t shy away from incorporating conversations about racism and bigotry in his film. There is a scene in which Shosho and Valentine visit a bar in London’s Limehouse district, where the patrons are of a distinctly lower class than the people who frequent Valentine’s upscale establishment. We see a white woman choose to dance with a black man, ignoring social conventions in pursuit of their shared pleasure. Unsurprisingly, the bar’s white management soon breaks the couple up, forcing the man to leave and shaming the woman for her choices - not only for dancing with someone outside of her race, but for being a prostitute. As this interaction unfolds, Shosho keeps her back turned to the argument; although her reaction is never explicitly discussed in dialogue, obviously she is affected by the racist outburst happening in front of her.

The film also includes a Chinese-British boyfriend for Shosho, Jim (King Hou Chang), who exhibits a certain degree of contempt for Valentine; it’s unusual to see a film from the late 1920s in which a character who is a minority is able to so freely express his disdain for a white man. Race and class are the constant concerns of the main characters in Piccadilly, and though the film ends up utilizing some overused and rather disappointing tropes for its third act, it deserves credit for shining a spotlight on the incandescent and unique Anna May Wong, who ought to have enjoyed a much bigger and better career than what she ultimately had.