The latest season of the LRB’s long-running film series continues its exploration of visions of London created by non-British filmmakers throughout 2026.

Next up is the landmark early sound film Piccadilly, converted from its own silent version in the same year and manner as Hitchcock’s similarly capital-set Blackmail. Scripted by the  prolific English writer and novelist Arnold Bennett, and directed by German filmmaker E.A. Dupont, it is especially notable for its casting of the pioneering Chinese-American actor Anna May Wong (Wong Liu Tsong). One of the five British films in which she starred, Piccadilly casts Wong as a young Chinese woman working in the kitchen at a London dance club, who is given the chance to become the its main act, a decision that leads to bitter rivalry, betrayal, transgressive love, and murder.

Capturing a key moment in the city’s cultural history, and acknowledging London’s often overlooked Chinese community, it’s a vivid and highly atmospheric drama, almost a film noir avant la lettre, driven by Wong’s compelling presence in what is probably her most famous role. With stalwarts like Charles Laughton and Ray Milland both putting in an appearance, it is, as the BFI’s Mark Duguid writes, ‘on a par with the best work of Anthony Asquith or Alfred Hitchcock in the period … notable for qualities not typically associated with British (silent) films: opulence, passion and a surprisingly direct approach to issues of race.’

Introducing Piccadilly, and discussing it afterwards with regular host Gareth Evans, will be the musician and writer Emma-Lee Moss (better known to some as Emmy the Great). In her forthcoming first book, My Cantopop Nights, which is published in June, Moss explores and attempts to reconcile the different sides of her heritage through music: Hong Konger and British, Cantopop and indie.

Cast:
Anna May Wong, Gilda Gray, Jameson Thomas