Style to Burn: Featuring Anna May Wong by R. Emmet Sweeney
The career of Anna May Wong is defined by what was denied her. Passed over for leading roles in favor of white actors, most egregiously for THE GOOD EARTH (’37), she was instead shunted into stereotyped “dragon lady” supporting parts for the majority of her working life. And yet her image endures despite it all, for she could imbue even the most clichéd character with a calculated cool to rival Marlene Dietrich, as she did so memorably in SHANGHAI EXPRESS (’32). FilmStruck has gathered seven disparate titles in its “Featuring Anna May Wong” theme, from which I will focus on two that spanned her career – PICCADILLY (’29) and IMPACT (’49).
Anna May Wong was born as Huang Liu Tsong on January 3, 1905 at 351 Flower Street, close to Los Angeles’ Chinatown district. Her family were third generation immigrants – both sets of Anna May’s grandparents had arrived in California by 1855. Her father Wong Sam Sing operated a laundromat, the Sam Kee Laundry, which all the children, including Anna May, worked at in some capacity. According to ANNA MAY WONG: FROM LAUNDRYMAN’S DAUGHTER TO HOLLYWOOD LEGEND, by Graham Russell Gao Hodges, Anna May first became interested in movies at the age of nine, when she used a tip from a laundry delivery to go to the cinema. After that she would often sneak out of school to go to movies, forging excuse notes for her teachers. She became especially obsessed with THE PERILS OF PAULINE (’14) serial, in which Pearl White would perform spectacular stunts to evade capture.
Anna May’s first appearance on film was as an extra in THE RED LANTERN (1919), a Chinese-themed drama starring Alla Nazimova. She remembered not having any fear the first day on set, “because I had acted in front of myself every day…so when I acted, it was a wonderful feeling, as though I was just playing myself.” Her first big break was getting cast in the lead for THE TOLL OF THE SEA (’22) at the age of 17, a Madame Butterfly adaptation written by Frances Marion that was one of the first two-color Technicolor features. This then led to one of her most famous early performances: a Mongol courtesan/spy in THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (’24). For the next four years she would only receive supporting parts, never a lead. This was in part due to the strictly enforced policy against showing mixed-race romances on-screen – Anna May could not be seen kissing a white man.
So, she was eager to break out from Hollywood and gladly signed a contract with German producer/director Richard Eichberg, who took her on a European tour. This led to the E.A. Dupont production PICCADILLY, where Wong plays a dishwasher who is discovered by the manager twirling in the washroom. She is hired to dance as an opening act and quickly becomes a star. This causes some serious jealousy from the show’s supposed leading lady Mabel (Gilda Gray), especially when Wong flirts with the manager Valentine (Jameson Thomas). Thus, occurs the requisite deception, intrigue and murder. It is directed by Ewald Andre Dupont with great flair and experimentation. He puts the camera everywhere, from hopping a train to a POV shot from inside Wong’s eye and even shot-reverse shot sequences are an event, with long panning shots building anticipation between each reaction. Even when the melodrama becomes predictable, Dupont is not. And Wong shines brightly in the role of Shosho, aided by some remarkable costumes (the designer is uncredited) – the one that makes her a star is a “Chinese” themed outfit that makes her look like a stylish and sleek pagoda. It would be ridiculous on most other actors but Wong could make just about anything look good. It is not simply that dresses sit well on her, but the attitude she expresses through each outfit. It is something to do with absolute control – she adapts to each piece of clothing and positions it as a weapon. She is her own distancing effect, daring you to approach – she is like a more dangerous Louise Brooks.
The Shosho character is very aware of these gifts, telling Valentine early on that “I danced once before in Limehouse but there was trouble, men, knives….” But she doesn’t care, because the knives don’t get turned on her, just between the men. The difference in PICCADILLY is that it is Mabel who is the destabilizing force, desperately in love with Valentine and watching him melt for Shosho, who is using him for kicks (sadly a kiss between Shosho and Valentine was cut out of the film to please U.S. censors – Wong could never truly get away from her country’s racism).
Wong could have made a career out of roles like these, but it wasn’t meant to be. She eventually returned to Hollywood, and back to the same stereotyped supporting parts. When THE GOOD EARTH came along, she was desperate for the part – which was given to Luise Rainer (who was white). Rainer would go on to win a Best Actress Oscar. Frustrated and angry, she finally stopped working after LADY FROM CHUNGKING in 1942.
She returned for a small part in the film noir IMPACT (’49), presumably to help pay the bills. It is a bit part as a maid named Su Lin, who is unwittingly enmeshed in a murder plot. She works for Walter Williams (Brian Donlevy) and his wife Irene (Helen Walker). Irene is having an affair with Jim Torrence (Tony Barrett), and they are plotting to kill Walter and take his sizable income. Su Lin overhears an argument between the two, only to discover days later that Walter has been declared dead. However, Dorothy Davenport and Jay Dratler’s screenplay adds mystery and intrigue to the film as deception and romance complicates the situation.
Though the film has its limitations, Anna May Wong is improbably affecting as Su Lin, a loyal employee riven with doubts about whether going to the cops would help or harm her former employer Walter. She only gets a few scenes but they are all imbued with sadness. Seeing her early on—carrying a tray of drinks in the background wearing a qipao— it is as if she were back on the set of THE RED LANTERN doing extra work. As if she had never stolen THIEF OF BAGDAD out from under Douglas Fairbanks or wooed all of Britain in PICCADILLY. When she does get a chance to speak, it is with a weariness and resignation that says it all.
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