Mabel, the prima ballerina, is Valentin’s lover. He, as the owner of the nightclub, fires her dancing partner because he is jealous of him. Later Valentin starts a relationship with ShoSho, the Chinese waitress, who is found dead. Valentin is suspected of the murder and arrested…

Between 1926 and 1927, Europe returned to classicism, whereas Dupont, having been won over by impressionism, moved towards the baroque with Moulin Rouge and Piccadilly. Dupont is both the Rubens and the Bernini of silent art, for the untiring movement of his curves, the voluptuousness of his material and the exacerbated sensuality of his art. There is however one difference between Dupont and the late French impressionists and that is his ability to tame his actors and preserve a powerful degree of realism in their performances.

Henri Langlois, Trois cent ans de cinéma, Paris 1986

Anna May Wong (real name Wong Liu Tsong: “yellow willows covered in frost”) was born in Los Angeles in 1905. Her parents ran a laundry in the Chinese quarter. She debuted in the cinema when she was 14 years old and played her first major role in 1922 in the film The Toll of the Sea. Even if the film was a flop, Anna May Wong’s performance caught the attention of Douglas Fairbanks and a small part was written for her in The Thief of Bagdad. The torrid eroticism of the character she played was extremely popular and she soon became the first Chinese Hollywood star. At the end of the twenties she moved to Europe, where together with Louise Brooks, she became the model for a new vogue of vamps: black pageboy haircut, sultry looks and a body to set the male audience alight. After Shanghai Express, her last performance of any interest, she unfortunately remained stereotyped as the treacherous oriental lady. She died of a heart attack at the age of 56.

The score

The film is set in a nightclub (the orchestra is often in the scenes) and it deals with a murky story of jealousy. That is why I thought that the most suitable music would be jazz. I referred to a previous musical period by including swing, whilst still maintaining the melodic line of the Twenties by including similar themes to the ones used for noir serials. I composed the full score as a single piece for piano, with distinct themes for the opening credits and the different characters. So for example, when ShoSho is seen for the first time, I interrupted the musical continuity by including some Chinese tonalities.

Neil Brand