This is the kind of film that would have made a great early sound movie. If you get the DVD release, you may be somewhat put off by the score - I know I was. There are two major musical numbers in the film, and it would have really accentuated them to have the music of the times in the film rather than the modern score that just doesn't seem to fit. Unfortunately, British films didn't convert to sound until 1930, so this film remains as a "silent musical".

It's a very good film that is basically about how life goes on, and today's celebrities and scandals are quickly forgotten tomorrow. It also shows the flimsy basis in many cases for being considered talented. The female headliner of the night club is basically there because she is the owner's girlfriend and is being carried to a large degree by her dance partner. When he decides to leave England and try to make it on Broadway, the owner knows the score and seeks a novelty to fill in what he has lost. He sees Anna May Wong's character dancing in the night club scullery and fires her for it, but later he realizes that maybe an exotic act is what he needs to draw an audience. He rehires her as a dancer. He is captivated by both the girl and her act, and at this point the film takes a sharp turn and becomes a bit of a crime drama and mystery.

Anna May Wong is probably the only performer most American audiences will recognize with one fleeting exception. At the beginning of the film there is a heavyset customer of the nightclub who is complaining about a dirty dish. That complaining customer is Charles Laughton in a very small and very early role.

One of the last British silent films casts Gilda Gray and Anna May Wong as rivals for Jameson Thomas owner of the fabled Piccadilly nightclub located, where else but on Piccadilly Circus in London. Piccadilly is set in the heart of Jazz Age London which had everything the American Roaring Twenties had without the inconvenience of Prohibition.

They were a little more daring across the pond in depicting an interracial romance. Thomas as owner of the nightclub fires half of his club attraction of the dancing team of Mabel and Vic. Vic is played by Cyril Ritchard and he's got a roving eye which distresses Mabel who is Gilda Gray. It distresses Thomas even more who likes Gilda, sort of.

But when Gray as a solo act doesn't bring in the customers, Thomas looks for a replacement and finds it in the slinky, sexy, sultry Anna May Wong. Wong had previously worked in the scullery at the club and got fired when she did a little impromptu dance entertainment for the staff and a customer complained about a dirty plate. But Thomas and his hormones remembered Wong and they begin an association professional and later personal.

This interracial triangle ends real bad with one of them dead and the other on trial for murder.

Two prominent people who had great careers in film had small parts. You have to look quick to spot Ray Milland as one of the tuxedoed bits during the nightclub scene. But it's impossible to forget Charles Laughton in his screen debut. He's the diner who complains about the dirty plate he was given, spoiling Ritchard and Gray's dance and leading to Thomas's discovery of Wong. Even without Laughton's magnificent speaking voice to aid him, watch how he milks that simple scene for all its worth. No doubt this man was going to have a great career.

There is one other prominent role of significance, that of King Hou Chang as Wong's original boy friend who carries a torch bigger than the one Jameson Thomas has. His performance is quite poignant, I'd love to know what happened to him as Piccadilly is only one of two film credits he has.

There are some nice shots of London in the Stanley Baldwin-Ramsay MacDonald era incorporated into the film. Piccadilly holds up reasonably well with a plot quite a bit more mature than the era normally would countenance.

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).