- Actors: Josephine Baker, Albert Préjean, Robert Arnoux, Germaine Aussey, Georges Péclet
- Directors: Edmond T. Gréville
- Writers: Pepito Abatino, Yves Mirande
- Producers: Arys Nissotti
- Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
- Language French
- Subtitles: English
- Region: Region 1 (US and Canada DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 - 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: Unrated (US MPAA rating. See details.)
- Studio: Kino Video
- DVD Release Date: 21 Jun 2005
- Run Time: 77 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- ASIN: B0009CTTZG
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 104,059 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
"African flowers aren't meant for parlors.",
By
This review is from: Josephine Baker Collection: Princess Tam Tam [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Josephine Baker's second talkie, Princess Tam Tam, is a great improvement over her first, Zou Zou, not least because it's an altogether more focused affair. A screwball romantic comedy with far more amorality and the kind of interracial relationships you'd never find in its Hollywood counterparts, it belongs to that bygone age when the rich and privileged had a penchant for staging elaborate practical jokes along the lines of Horace de Vere Cole's celebrated `Dreadnought Hoax,' when he and various members of the Bloomsbury Group including Virginia Woolf impersonated a group of Abyssinian royals to get the Royal Navy to lay on a state visit to their flagship. There's nothing quite so elaborate in Edmond Greville's 1935 film, but almost everybody in it is a fake, from Albert Prejean's celebrated novelist `hero' who never goes anywhere without his ghostwriter to the high society phonies and hangers-on, because it's learning to lie that makes people civilised. Even the most `natural' character, Baker's Tunisian beggar who Prejean rather cynically pretends to be in love with to get material for an interracial romance that will be the subject of his next `modern' novel, is roped into the deceptions when he persuades her to masquerade as a Princess to make his wife, who is on the cusp of a affair with a rich Maharajah, jealous enough to run back to him. If there's an undercurrent of cruelty to his behaviour that makes it sound like the sort of thing a Thirties Neil LaBute might have done, the film doesn't treat Baker as a source of cheap laughs but reserves most of its scorn for the casual racism of the monied classes who tend to regard their colonies as the kinds of places that would be wonderful if there weren't so many foreigners - callously referred to as `wild game' by one. Even when they're plotting to make her betray her `savage' origins by appealing to her, ahem, natural sense of rhythm at the climax, the film turns their prejudices against them and keeps our sympathies firmly with Baker even before the slightly cop out ending.
It's much more of a satire than a musical, with only a brief dance and three musical numbers in its 77-minute running time. The big setpiece musical finale number at the Maharajah's ball is as absurd as anything you'll find in a Busby Berkley movie but, unlike the disjointed opening night finale of Zou Zou, is a much more fluid and all of a piece sequence with a dreamlike logic that compares much more favourably to the Hollywood pictures it's clearly aspiring to. Partially shot in Tunisia, Princess Tam Tam isn't really a great deal more than a bit of Thirties studio fluff at heart, but while it's no masterpiece it's a surprisingly enjoyable and very stylishly made one that reminds you just why moviegoing was such a popular pastime back in the Golden Age. Shame that some of the subtitles on Kino's DVD are so hard to read, though.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.8 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews) 8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Black Venus comes to dvd,
By W. Oliver - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Josephine Baker Collection: Princess Tam Tam [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Josephine Baker, born and raised in St. Louis, left the United States as a teenager to escape racial discrimination. She moved to France and in the mid-20s became the toast of Paris dancing and singing in the Folies Berge. Billed as the "Black Venus," Baker wowed audiences with her provacative moves, especially her infamous "banana dance." And she made a few movies as well.
"Princess Tam Tam," filmed in Tunisia, is one of her better efforts. It is a Pygmalion-type story about a writer who takes an African vacation to escape his arrogant society wife. He and his collaborator seek inspiration to write a novel and they find it in an exotic native girl played by Baker. The writer decides to transform the girl into a princess and bring her back to France to make his wife jealous. The film is enhanced by Baker, whose personality shines through - it is easy to see why audiences were so enchanted with her. She gets to do two dance numbers - one inside a cafe and the other during an elaborate Busby Berkeley style number at the end of the film. The extras on the disc inside a 20 minutes documentary which discusses three significant Baker films - "Siren of the Tropics," "Zou Zou," and "Princess Tam Tam." It includes interviews with Baker's adopted son, Jean-Claude as well as actress Lynn Whitfield (who portrayed Baker in the film "The Josephine Baker Story"), NY Times theater critic Margo Jefferson and dance critic Elizabeth Kendall. 11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Josephine Baker shines!,
By "sopera" - Published on Amazon.com
Princess Tam Tam" is one of only two talkies made by the legendary Josephine Baker. It is, in this viewer's opinion, the better of the two, and quite a delightful movie.The story is reminiscent of "Pygmallion:" Awina (Baker), a Tunisian woman, is taken in by a pompous French writer and transformed from a street beggar to a "cultured" society matron. Said writer is only attempting to enrage his estranged wife and gather material for his next book, but he manages to convince Awina that he is enamoured with her. The wife, meanwhile, is carrying on an affair of her own. When the writer returns to Paris with his 'exotic new love,' the wife and her friends work to expose Awina as a fraud. As this is a musical comedy, all's well in the end, as both Awina and the author find success and happiness (apart!). What makes "Princess Tam Tam" special is the manner in which it captures Josephine Baker's irrepressible and unique spirit. She has several opportunities to show off her inimitable and uninhibited style of dance, her fantastic sense of humour and her 'star power.' At the same time, the film is not merely a star vehicle: the storyline and supporting cast work well to create a film with some substance. There is lovely cinematography and some stunning views of the desert and Roman ruins (sections of the film were actually shot on location in Tunisia). One criticism about this film is the quality of the English subtitling. The actual French dialogue is, in a number of cases, much richer and more entertaining than the sparse subtitles would suggest. 8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Josephine Baker comedy-drama,
By DJ Joe Sixpack - Published on Amazon.com
Although better filmed and better directed than Jospehine Baker's previous feature film, "Zou Zou," this movie has less soulfulness and zest, and is more genuinely offensive, in terms of how it portrays a black woman's role in European society. The premise is simple enough: it's a remake of Shaw's "Pygmalion," this time with a French novelist going abroad to Tunisia and finding a new muse in the guise of the wild, uninhibited Alwina, a shepard girl who sings, dances and shoplifts her way through life. Our Gallic hero takes her under his wing, transports her to Paris and passes her off as African royalty, training her in the finer points of civilized life, such as wearing shoes and not dancing the boogaloo in public, all the while making side comments about her wild native ways. Sure, the film is a product of its time, and some degree of racism is to be expected, but we also have to be honest and admit that it gets in the way of enjoying this film, and helps define its central essence. Also, it just seems more forced and predictable than "Zou Zou," which in addition to a more interesting plot also had better performances from Baker. Worth checking out, to be sure, but a little troublesome nonetheless.
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