Piccadilly by Arnold Bennett

Arnold Bennett

Piccadilly by Arnold Bennett.

Edited with an introduction by John Shapcott, University of Keele.

John Shapcott has also held the position of Chairman of The Arnold Bennett.

The German film director E.A. Dupont's film version of Arnold Bennett's Piccadilly was released in 1929 to critical acclaim. Today it is recognised as one of the last great silent movies.

John Shapcott's critical edition of the novel on which the film is based explores the intertwining of book and film to assess Bennett's place as novelist in cinema history.

Readers will discover a dramatic story of sexual frustration, mixed race tensions, exotic dance, fears of beauty's decay, intrigue and murder. And all played out against a vivid background of night-club life in the heart of London's West End which finds a dangerous echo in the Est End's mysterious and threatening Limehouse.

The story of the Chinese scullery girl's transformation into a cabaret start tragically entices the night-club's owner away from his English lover is Bennett's enduring achievement as a novelist of cinema and its magic.

Publication of Piccadilly, along with Punch and Judy in 2012 and The Wedding Dressin 2013, completes Churnet Valley's ground breaking and important Trilogy of Bennett's 1920s film novels. 

Cover picture: A continental poster used for the film.

Published by Churnet Valley Books.