ASIAN AMERICANS IN CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET
Tonight’s lineup of film rarities, presented under the TCM banner “Asian Americans in Classic Hollywood,” serves up two silent films, then one from the sound era. First up, at 8 p.m. ET, is 1919’s The Dragon Painter, an allegory about a man who believes a beautiful woman has metamorphosed into a dragon. Then come two movies starring Anna May Wong: At 9 p.m. ET, it’s 1929’s Piccadilly, a silent film (with dance numbers!) in which she stars as a sensual scullery maid turned dancer (pictured) – followed at 11 p.m. ET by 1937’s Daughter of Shanghai, a sound movie in which she plays a woman hunting for her father’s murderers. Anna May Wong is vibrant and memorable in both films, one each from the silent and sound movie eras – which only goes to prove, in this instance and on this particular TCM evening, that two Wongs do make a right. Sorry.