LOUISE BROOKS SOCIETY ([info]louisebrooks) wrote,
@ 2008-06-05 22:41:00
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Anna May Wong
Did anyone see the documentary about Anna May Wong on TCM ? Did anyone notice a portrait of Louise Brooks on the wall behind Philip Leibfried as Leibfried spoke and the credits rolled? Was it Brooks, or Wong ?

Wong was incredibly beautiful. It too bad her acting talent was wasted in so many dismal films. I do like Piccadilly, and Shanghai Express, though.

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[info]irishkale
2008-06-07 04:41 pm UTC (link)
That documentary really whet my appetite to find out more about Anna May Wong. I knew nothing about her and was surprised at how versatile she was with acting on Broadway, European tours, her political causes, etc. Also I had no idea that they had shot color film in 1922 ("2-strip technicolor"). It was amazing to see flesh tones in a silent film!

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[info]luiza06
2008-06-08 04:12 pm UTC (link)
I did not see TCM, but I see Philip Leibfried is author of "Anna May Wong: A Complete Guide ...", published by McFarland*. You could contact Mr. Leibfried via info@mcfarlandpub.com to ask whose portrait that is. I'd do so myself, but I deal strictly in off-the-wall matters.

Kudos to TCM for their month-long retrospective (Race & Hollywood: Asian Images in Film -- Tuesdays & Thursdays in June). And the kick-off movie was "The Cheat" (1915), which of course James Card obtained (rescued) from DeMille's daughter Cecilia in 1959 and lauded in "Seductive Cinema." (It's on a greatly enjoyable DVD from Netflix, along with DeMille's "Carmen" and Chaplin's "Burlesque on Carmen.")

Kara Kellar Bell, a young Scottish writer, knows why you like Piccadilly: "The days of nitrate and silver emulsion are long gone, but the films of that era can still cast a spell over the modern day viewer. ‘Piccadilly’ is one such film. ... [Louise Brooks] had a naturalistic acting style and a luminosity that made her stand out from the other actors in her films. The same might be said about Anna May Wong. ... 'Piccadilly’ is a film that uses expressionist cinematography and lighting. The German film that it most resembles, though, is ‘Pandora’s Box’ ...". That's from www.laurahird.com/newreview/piccadilly.html ... as you may know, since there's a link to the LBS.

*They say at www.mcfarlandpub.com, "McFarland is a leading U.S. publisher of scholarly, reference and academic books. Located in Jefferson, North Carolina (in the Appalachian Mountains), McFarland publishes books that can be found in libraries worldwide." Aunt Bea must be proud of them.

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[info]luiza06
2008-10-21 07:25 pm UTC (link)
Now I see another good reason to appreciate 'Piccadilly': The Piccadilly Club is the Café de Paris! "Café de Paris' reputation was only enhanced by providing the backdrop for one of the greatest films of its time," says the nightclub's website, on the History page, calling the movie "a delirious evocation of sultry, jazz-age London." Brooks isn't mentioned. It was the club's first Winter when she danced there.

A search for Café de Paris at youtube turns up 500 videos, but the first is "Cafe De Paris (1929)" (2:50), which is a ball. Tinted! It may be 1929, but they haven't forgotten the Charleston. ... The central number, "You're the Cream in My Coffee", has music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Lew Brown, who also turned out "Don't Bring Lulu", which is also on youtube (I discovered yesterday). There's a clip ("Jacob Sisters Don't Bring Lulu" (3:30)) that looks like an earlier, German version of The Dean Martin Show -- right to the blackout.

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