Thursday, May 5, 2022

TCM Star of the Month May 2022: Anna May Wong

Anna May Wong dancing as a scullery girl in Piccadilly (May 12, 8:00 PM)

Once again, we're into the first full week of a new month, which means that it's time for a new Star of the Month on TCM. This time, that star is Anna May Wong, and her movies will be appearing on TCM on Thursdays in prime time. Or at least, the first half of prime time, since she didn't make that many movies and TCM only has 13 of them, along with at least one documentary tonight about the portrayal of Asians in old Hollywood.

Tonight kicks off at 8:00 PM with Toll of the Sea, a shortish (about an hour) silent which is generally more remembered for being the earliest known surviving Technicolor feature, made all the way back in 1922. In it, Wong plays a woman in China who saves an American. They have a relationship that produces a baby, but he leaves for home before he learns that she's pregnant. Some time later, he returns with his wife, who knows about his past. Things get complicated. It's a bit of a shame that it's more remembered for the two-strip Technicolor, since Wong actually does well here.

Piccadilly, pictured above, kicks off the lineup on May 12 at 8:00 PM, which also sees Wong opposed Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express at 10:00 PM. The final night of the spotlight, May 26, includes a couple of smaller parts; I didn't even mention Wong when I did my post on Impact (May 26, 9:15 PM) three years ago.

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