Anna May Wong in Elstree Calling, 1930

During her sojourn in England in the late 1920s – a time when she made five movies of which we still remember Piccadilly and less so The Flame of Love, The Road to Dishonour and Hai-Tang. Far, far less remembered is a strange film called Elstree Calling (1930), basically a bunch of variety skits (a chorus line, some blackface minstrels, a Russian dance troupe, a Highland singer, a bit of light opera, a Fred & Ginger-type ballroom dance duo, a magician, a Shakespeare performer all included). There are some comedic links (apparently directed by Alfred Hitchcock). In amongst all this mess is a bizarre spoof of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew featuring a motorbike and sidecar riding Petruchio who encounters a Barbarella-style Anna May Wong (38 years earlier than Jane Fonda!) throwing custard pies and spoting cod-Chinese. All quite odd and here on Youtube if you want to see it all. But here’s some stills…