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Pavement Butterfly (German: Großstadtschmetterling) is a 1929 British-German silent drama film directed by Richard Eichberg and starring Anna May Wong, Alexander Granach, and Gaston Jacquet.[1] It was part of an ongoing co-production arrangement between Eichberg and British International Pictures.
| Pavement Butterfly | |
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| Directed by | Richard Eichberg |
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| Cinematography | |
| Music by | Max Pflugmacher |
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| Distributed by | Süd-Film |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
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The film was shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Berlin[2] and on location in Paris, Nice and Monte Carlo. The sets were designed by the art directors Willi Herrmann and Werner Schlichting.
Synopsis
editA Chinese dancer in the nightclubs of Paris, becomes involved with a Russian painter and becomes his model. She is persecuted by a man named Coco, accused of theft. Later, in the French Riviera she is at last able to prove her innocence.
Cast
edit- Anna May Wong as Mah
- Alexander Granach as Coco
- Nien Sön Ling as Mr Wu
- Elwood Fleet Bostwick as Henry P. Working
- Tilla Garden as Ellise Working, Mr Working's daughter
- Gaston Jacquet as Baron de Neuve
- Fred Louis Lerch as Fedja Kusmin
- S. Z. Sakall as Paul Bennet, Kusmin's artist neighbour
- John Höxter
Production
editThis is, after Song, the second[3] of various collaborations of Eichberg with Wong.[4]
Analysis
editAnalysing the evolution of the roles played by Wong in her career, Mayukh Sen wrote: "Her subsequent films with Eichberg broke her out of the typecasting that she’d faced in Hollywood. In 1929’s Pavement Butterfly, she played a Chinese dancer who, despite the title’s suggestion, was more of a self-possessed vamp than a passive wallflower."[5]
References
edit- ^ Kapczynski & Richardson, p. 189.
- ^ "Großstadtschmetterling". Shot in Berlin.
- ^ "Kennington Bioscope presents Pavement Butterfly (1929) » The Cinema Museum, London". The Cinema Museum, London. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- ^ "A celebration of Anna May Wong in 6 films". BFI. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
- ^ Sen, Mayukh (30 August 2023). "How Anna May Wong Became the First Chinese American Movie Star". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
Bibliography
edit- Kapczynski, Jennifer M.; Richardson, Michael D., eds. (2014) [2012]. A New History of German Cinema. New York: Boydell & Brewer. ISBN 978-1-58046-854-1.