Le pompier des Folies Bergères[a] (The fireman of the Folies Bergères), also known as Un pompier qui prend feu (A fireman catches fire) and Les Hallucinations d'un pompier (The hallucinations of a fireman) is a 1928 French silent film featuring Josephine Baker.[1][2] The director is unknown.[3] The film is about seven-and-a-half minutes long.[4]
| Le pompier des Folies Bergères | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | unknown |
| Starring | Josephine Baker |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7 1/2 minutes |
| Country | France |
The film was produced in 1927 and released in 1928.[5] The storyline involves the erotic fantasies of a fireman, and includes elements from Baker's Folies Bergère performance entitled "Un Vent desfolies at the Folies-Bergere."[5] The fireman, inspired by seeing the Folies Bergère, imagines that people that he encounters are naked women.[4]
Baker appears in two scenes as subway driver who transforms into a "scantily dressed ... unnamed, seductive showgirl" in part of the fireman's fantasies,[1][5] and dances the Charleston in one scene.[4] Terri Francis, a cinema and media studies academic, notes that there are several contrasts in the film between a number of white women who appear nude, in immobile posed groups, and Baker, who is dressed, dances, and appears individually.[1]
Sociologist Bennetta Jules-Rosette wrote in 2007 that "Although this film would be considered softcore pornography today, it is difficult to determine the extent of its distribution and the responses of its audience when it was released in 1928."[5] The Bibliothèque nationale de France has a video copy of the film.[5]
Notes
edit- ^ In some sources, called Le pompier des Folies Bergère
References
edit- ^ a b c Francis, Terri Simone (2021). "4. Parody and desire in Le pompier des Folies Bergère and Princesse Tam-Tam". Josephine Baker's Cinematic Prism. Indiana University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1dc9k61. ISBN 9780253223388.
- ^ "Hallucination d'un pompier (1928)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
- ^ Francis, Terri (2010). "Sighting the 'real' Josephine Baker: Methods and Issues of Black Star Studies". In Willis, Deborah (ed.). Black Venus, 2010 : they called her "Hottentot". Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 199–209. ISBN 9781439902059.
- ^ a b c Powrie, Phil; Rebillard, Éric (2017). "Josephine Baker and Pierre Batcheff in La Sirène des tropiques". In Henderson, Mae G.; Regester, Charlene B. (eds.). The Josephine Baker Critical Reader. McFarland. pp. 185–197. ISBN 9781476665818.
- ^ a b c d e Jules-Rosette, Bennetta (22 April 2024). Josephine Baker in art and life : the icon and the image. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. pp. 78–79. ISBN 9780252074127.
External links
editLe pompier des Folies Bergères at IMDb
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