''Pavement Butterfly'' (german: Großstadtschmetterling) is a 1929 British-German silent

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Richard Eichberg Richard Eichberg (27 October 1888 – 8 May 1952) was a German film director and producer. He directed 87 films between 1915 and 1949. He also produced 77 films between 1915 and 1950. He was born in Berlin, Germany and died in Munich, Germ ...

and starring

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese-American movie star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese-American actress to gain intern ...

Alexander Granach Alexander Granach (April 18, 1890 – March 14, 1945) was a German-Austrian actor in the 1920s and 1930s who emigrated to the United States in 1938. Life and career Granach was born Schaje Granoch in Werbowitz (Wierzbowce/Werbiwci) (Austri ...

, and

Gaston Jacquet Gaston Émile Marius Jacquet (14 August 1883 – 28 January 1970) was a French actor. Jacquet was born in Lanas, Ardèche, France and died in 1970 in Thonex in Switzerland. Selected filmography * ''Les Trois Mousquetaires'' (1921) * ''Th ...

. It was part of an ongoing co-production arrangement between Eichberg and

British International Pictures Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appro ...

. The film was shot at the

Babelsberg Studios Babelsberg Film Studio (german: Filmstudio Babelsberg), located in Potsdam-Babelsberg outside Berlin, Germany, is the second oldest large-scale film studio in the world only preceded by the Danish Nordisk Film (est. 1906), producing films since ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and on location in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

and

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

. The sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Willi Herrmann Willi Herrmann (1893–1968) was a German art director. Selected filmography * '' Madness'' (1919) * '' Child on the Open Road'' (1919) * '' Jettatore'' (1919) * ''Humanity Unleashed'' (1920) * '' The Secrets of Berlin'' (1921) * ''The Maharaja ...

and

Werner Schlichting Werner Schlichting (1904–1996) was a German art director who worked on over a hundred films during a lengthy career. He worked on a number of Austrian films including '' The Congress Dances'' and ''The Last Ten Days'' (1955).Fritsche p.253 Sele ...

Synopsis

A Chinese

dancer Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoi ...

in the nightclubs of

, becomes involved with a Russian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and becomes his model. She is persecuted by a man named Coco, accused of theft. Later, in the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

she is at last able to prove her innocence.

Cast

Production

This is, after

Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

, the second of various collaborations of Eichberg with Wong.

Analysis

Analysing the evolution of the roles played by Wong in her career,

Mayukh Sen Mayukh Sen is an American writer and author of a nonfiction book, ''Taste Makers: Seven Immigrant Women Who Revolutionized Food in America''. He was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2018 and 2019, winning the award in 2018 for his profile of P ...

wrote: "Her subsequent films with Eichberg broke her out of the typecasting that she’d faced in Hollywood. In 1929’s ''Pavement Butterfl''y, she played a Chinese dancer who, despite the title’s suggestion, was more of a self-possessed vamp than a passive wallflower."

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1929 films Films of the Weimar Republic Films directed by Richard Eichberg British silent feature films German silent feature films German black-and-white films British black-and-white films Silent German drama films 1929 drama films Silent British drama films Films shot at Babelsberg Studios Films shot in Paris Films shot in Monaco Films set in Monaco Films set in Nice Films set in Paris 1920s British films 1920s German films {{Richard Eichberg