Sur un Air de Charleston (1927)
Genre: Scifi
Duration: 17 minuten
Alternative titles: Charleston Parade / Charleston
Country:
France
Directed by: Jean Renoir
Stars: Catherine Hessling, Johnny Hudgins and Pierre Braunberger
IMDb score:
5,9 (759)
Releasedate: 19 March 1927
This movie is not available on US streaming services.
Sur un Air de Charleston plot
In the year 2048, after the war, an explorer sets off in his airship to explore the primitive unexplored territory of Europe. There he meets a native woman, who teaches him that primitive native dance, the Charleston.
Reviews & comments
Film Pegasus (moderator films)
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- 31191 messages
- 5473 votes
A silent film, and you can take that literally. The film wasn't entirely finished, and a score was never written. Although it might have been played to an audience with live music about 100 years ago. A bizarre story about a future explorer who arrives in a dilapidated Europe and encounters a young native who teaches him to dance. Director Jean Renoir reverses the roles, pitting a beautifully dressed Black traveler (the actor was, incidentally, Black, but also wore blackface) against a young white native woman who somewhat resembles the stereotypes Europeans (unfortunately) held of Africans at the time. She teaches him the Charleston. Jean Renoir was inspired by jazz, which had been introduced in Paris a year earlier by Josephine Baker.
Some stereotypes can be somewhat obscured by the zeitgeist. Although I must say, it seems primarily intended as a gimmick, inspired by vaudeville. The film is quite surprising with the flying vehicle. Even more so for its time is the dancer's dance (Jean Renoir's wife), which is sometimes shown in slow motion. It does have a slightly erotic quality and would certainly not have been commonplace for that time.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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