Customer Reviews

Princess Tam Tam [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
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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.

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.

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.

"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.

A long time ago, in the early days of the 20th Century, the Madonna of French society was a vivacious, exotic black singer/dancer named Josephine Baker. Blessed with enormous eyes and an infectious smile, she starred in her 3rd movie, "Princess Tam Tam", in 1935. A French version of Pygmalion, "Princess Tam Tam" stars Baker as a wild African shepard, reformed(somewhat), and brought to Paris for exhibition. The story lacks momentum, but, in the end, Baker breathes life into the film. "Princess Tam Tam" is part of the Kino Josephine Baker DVD-trilogy. Kino's transfer includes a documentary, songs, and other generous extras. Once again, Kino is King.

I used to think that no movies in the world beat 1930s-style Hollywood films--especially the ones featuring big musical and dance scenes--for sheer camp. But after watching "Princess Tam Tam," I realized that the French of the 1930s were pretty good at making movies so bad that, eighty-odd years later, their very badness makes them totally fun to watch.

"Tam Tam" is formulaic, as one would expect: debonair and worldly novelist is jealous of his wife, so he fakes a romance with a wild girl of north Africa--played by Josephine Baker--to make his wife jealous in turn. Baker plays a street urchin whom the novelist pretends is a "jungle" princess and introduces to Parisian high society as such. Predictably, the charade is exposed, but--also predictably--everyone lives happily ever after anyway.

There are some genuinely laugh-out-loud moments in the film. The guy who plays the novelist's sidekick, a sort of Oliver Hardy character, is really a good comedic actor. But for the most part the dialogue is strained and the editing is particularly bad. Jumps between splices occur nonstop.

The film was made, one suspects, to give Josephine Baker a stage. She'd made two earlier French films, the silent "Siren of the Tropic" and "Zou Zou," a much better talkie in which she sings the song made famous by the later film "Frida." But "Tam Tam" doesn't give Baker much of an opportunity to show her stuff. She sings a couple of numbers, which is good. But her two dance scenes are continuously interrupted by the camera panning the crowd of onlookers. And Baker looks old and a bit tired in the film. She tries real hard to be the vivacious and spirited gal that France fell in love with, but can't quite pull it off in this film.

So the film is pretty much an utter cinematic disaster. But it's great fun to watch.

Delightful musical comedy gives us a rare glimpse of Baker's powerful allure and talent, and projects a knowing, sophisticated light-heartedness reminiscent of director Ernst Lubitsch. On-location Tunisian scenery lends distinctive atmosphere, and the viewer is transfixed any time Baker sings or dances. Somewhat daring and different for the times, "Tam-Tam" provides an invaluable record of one of the last century's most celebrated entertainers.

Funny French reply to English "Pygmalion"-or own interpretation of the ancient Greek story,-this movie is of an African peasant of a "Maharaja" land (Maharaja was a tribe ruler title in India) turned into grand dame of Paris with learning her European rules of courtesy.

Probably, it was interesting for viewers of the pre-race-equity timing when being white was already a sign of prosperity somewhere in then "developed" world also acting and music are good as a general information of days passed could testify to the history real.

I bought an excellent used copy of this video. I was well pleased with the quality of the video. As I have long admired Josephine Baker as a person, I wanted to see one of her few movies. This one, while having a simple & formula story, was much more than I expected from other reviews. It is, in its way, semi-biographical, as it describes the rise of a beautiful woman from abject poverty to wealth. I found it to have an all-round excellent cast and well acted. Some of the shots were difficult to see, but that is how many black & white films of this era were shot. The film has been re-mastered very well. Josephine Baker was excellent in this film. I do wish that there had been more scenes of her dancing. She has been described as a "boneless" dancer, as she was extremely flexible in her youth. I was pleasantly surprised by how well she sang, as I have never heard her singing voice. She was a bit too mature to play this particular role, but she overcame that obstacle in a believable manner. All in all, I enjoyed this film very much and am adding this video to my collection.

When I was about ten years old in 1991 I fell in love with two black legends...Mahalia Jackson and Josephine Baker.

It is indeed a great joy to be able to see Josephine in action...to witness the star quality that enchanted people the world over and mesmerised fans for half a century.

I love Princess Tam Tam overall...The dance scenes are magnificent; the flexibility and lithe grace that Josephine possessed never ceases to amaze me. One critic said that she just had a few gimicks and shouldn't be considered a dancer but Josephine accomplished with her body what many are rushing to Juilliard to achieve today. She was able to combine ballet, acrobatics, jazz dancing and vaudeville comedic steps into one stunning whole. Some people were not moved by her singing either but her range was breath taking to me. Her voice was pristine and girlish...a soprano of exquisite beauty...

Josephine you were the true definition of DIVA!!!

The highlights of the film for me were her rendition of 'Dreams'...a lovely song that she sings; the camera gets a excellent closeup of her against the backdrop of a boat sail - showcasing her exotic good looks. And the dance scene at the end were she reveals her 'savage ways' to the French Gentry on stage at the Maharajah's party where she dances to 'Ahe, la Conga'. That scene particular keeps me on the edge of my seat.