Princesse Tam Tam (1935)
Posted: May 13th, 2007, 11:42 am
PRINCESSE TAM TAM is a 1935 French musical show-casing the talents of the one and only Josephine Baker. The plot is fairly slight – it’s a kind of Pygmalion story, in which a couple of French literary types take a Bedouin girl and “civilise” her and then pass her off as a princess. Josephine Baker sings, she dances as only she could dance, and she proves herself a reasonably adept comic actress. She looks magnificent, and although I’m sure the dances are very tame compared to the live performances that made her the toast of Paris they’re enough to give a good idea of the reasons she was such a sensation. The movie climaxes with a musical production number worthy of (and clearly very much influenced by) Busby Berkeley. It’s an effective blend of comedy, romance and music, and while it does reflect the time at which it was made it’s noticeably much less racist than American films of that era. It also boasts some great locations (I believe it was filmed partly in Tunisia), and some marvellous sets. Baker is likeable as well as talented, and although there’s not a great deal of substance to this movie if you’re prepared to accept it as the kind of lightweight but delicious soufflé that it is then there’s an enormous amount of enjoyment to be had. I loved it, and I’ll be seeking out more of her French films.