Zouzou

ZOUZOU, a young, vivacious Creole laundress impresses all around her with her talent & wit. Longing for the love of her handsome adopted brother, she instead finds the possibility of enormous success in the musical theater...

The marvelous Joséphine Baker is perfectly cast in the title role in this very enjoyable French film. With her enormous eyes & infectious smile, she connects with the viewer's heartstrings immediately. Her over-sized personality & obvious joy of performing make her a pure pleasure to watch. Here, Baker makes us care about what's happening to poor Zouzou, during her trials & triumphs.

Gallic star Jean Gabin is effective as Zouzou's seaman brother, but this is really Baker's time to shine, and he nicely underplays his scenes.

The film is well made, looking a little reminiscent of Busby Berkeley movies being produced at the same time in America - although unlike American films of this period, ZOUZOU hasn't any racism. It should be pointed out that there was no Hays Office or Production Code in France. Some of the dialogue & action is rather provocative, but it must be admitted that seeing Baker, strategically covered with tiny white feathers, sitting on a swing singing 'Haiti,' is one of the cinema's more memorable moments.

Joséphine Baker was born in St. Louis in 1906, into a very poor family. Her talent & driving ambition, however, soon pushed her into moving East and she was briefly a cast member of the Ziegfeld Follies. Realizing that America in the mid-1920's held great limitations for a gifted Black woman, she managed to get herself to Paris, where she eventually joined the Foliés-Bergeres & Le Negre Revue. The French adored her and she became a huge celebrity. A short return to America in 1935 showed Baker that things had not changed for African-Americans. She returned to France, became a French citizen & worked for the Resistance during the early days of the War. Baker relocated to Morocco for the duration and entertained Allied troops stationed there.

After the War, Baker's fortunes began to slide and she faced many financial & personal difficulties. For a while, she was even banned from returning to the United States. Finally, Baker accepted an offer from Princess Grace of Monaco to reside in the Principality. Joséphine Baker was on the verge of a comeback when she died of a stroke in 1975, at the age of 68.

Having appeared in only two decent films - ZOUZOU & PRINCESSE TAM TAM - Baker is in danger of becoming obscure. But she deserves her place alongside Chevalier, Dietrich & Robeson as one of her generation's truly legendary performers.

Zouzou is a very much substandard French film from the thirties, with a flimsy and unengaging story, a completely unnecessary murder subplot that is introduced (presumably for suspense) and then dealt with offscreen in about 60 seconds, and ends weakly and unconvincingly, with a whimper not a bang.

But it is a landmark movie in other ways, most obviously in the treatment of race, here being depicted by black American ex-pat Josephine Baker. It's amazing to reflect that back at home she would have had to drink from a separate water fountain and sit at the back of the bus for another thirty years after this was made, whereas here in Paris she is loved and applauded and treated like an equal by every single person she meets, everywhere she goes. It's almost like an alternate celluloid history of the 1930s, and a very refreshing one at that.

Another way it differs is in the frank depictions of nudity, which go further than even the pre-code films of Hollywood at the time would have done. Both these factors ensured it never got an approved release back in the States.

Baker is entertaining throughout, if unconvincing in the emotional scenes, and the young Jean Gabin, who is always good, adds weight and character to his too-undernourished role. It culminates in a couple of big Busby Berkeley-like musical numbers with some enormously oversized sets (a bed, a birdcage, etc). The songs aren't particularly memorable, but then watching a musical with subtitles is never going to be the best way to experience it.

It's not a very good film, but it is a likeable one, and a deeper, more positive cut of history than we are used to seeing today.

I've long been a fan of Josephine Baker, but have never seen more than clips of her films. This is one of her most famous films, in which she co-stars with Jean Gabin. Unfortunately, it's pretty worthless. It's a musical, but it really doesn't want to be a Hollywood musical. It wants to be semi-realistic, and the songs only take place on stage, so there's only a couple of them, and they're right at the end. The first seventy minutes are ridiculous, moronically plotted, and boring. Baker and Gabin are twins, in reality two adopted children of a circus man (Pierre Larquey). When they grow up, Gabin is a sailor and Baker a laundress. Kind of. Gabin immediately isn't a sailor, but is instead an electrician working in the theater, where Baker gets accidentally discovered when the big star (Illa Meery) is acting up. Baker's secretly in love with her brother, but her co-worker (Yvette Lebon) catches his eye. Oh, and Gabin is sleeping with Meery, too, maybe. At least in one random scene. Ugh, the whole plot is a mess. And then we get to the giant musical number, which is so silly it would make Busby Berkeley laugh in derision - and that should be a hoot, but it's so over-edited that it becomes annoying. The film only comes to life when Baker is given center stage, which is not close to often enough. Even then, she's burdened with ludicrous costumes, like the one that makes her look like she has yeti fur growing out her tits. Damn, I was really looking forward to this.

I enjoyed everything about this movie: camera, pacing, acting, dancing, plot, characters, French language, and historic value. Above all I enjoyed Josephine Baker's incredibly subtle singing, and the beautifully written and orchestrated songs. And the background music is also superb. The whole movie has an atmosphere of generosity and good cheer, and a pleasant absence of Hollywood glitter. They really don't make them like this anymore. Not for those who want blockbusting glamor. This is a modest film, but there is charm in modesty. Less is more.

Most of this movie is the sort of mindless melodrama Hollywood and Paris produced in abundance in the 1930s. The acting is all fine, but the story is strictly from hunger.

At the end, however, you get to see Josephine Baker in a major production number, the sort of musical extravaganza that made her a star in Paris. There, for five minutes, you understand that she was a lot more than just a woman in a banana skirt.

Watch the rest of the movie if you're into melodrama.

But definitely watch the end. It explains the French reputation of Josephine Baker.