Charleston Parade (1927)

Shot in three days, this surreal, erotic silent short shows a native white girl teaching a futuristic African airman the Charleston dance.

Director:

Jean Renoir

Writers:

André Cerf (idea by), Pierre Lestringuez (scenario)

Stars:

Catherine Hessling, Johnny Hudgins, Pierre Braunberger

Cast

Cast overview:
Catherine Hessling	...	Parisian Savage
Johnny Hudgins	...	African Explorer
Pierre Braunberger	...	Angel
André Cerf	...	Angel
Pierre Lestringuez	...	Angel
Jean Renoir	...	Angel

Storyline

Shot in three days, this surreal, erotic silent short shows a native white girl teaching a futuristic African airman the Charleston dance.

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Genres:

Short | Sci-Fi

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Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Jean Renoir: An Auteur to Remember (2007)

User Reviews

Silent Renoir

Charleston Parade (1927)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Extremely bizarre short film from Jean Renoir is somewhat sci-fi and somewhat musical. A man in blackface takes off in a spaceship and lands in an unknown country. In this country he meets a white woman (Catherine Hessling; the director's wife) who does a tribal dance, which the blackface man believes is from his native people. I'm really not sure what the hell this film is suppose to be about but I can only guess it has something to do with reverse racism. There are several racial comments made by the white girl and her "not liking black meat" and I guess her being the "native" doing a tribal dance was the reverse thing from the black man doing it, which is something we've seen in countless films from this period. The DVD doesn't feature any music score so it was somewhat hard to know the nature the director was going for. An interesting short to say the least.

Details

Country:

France

Language:

None

Release Date:

19 March 1927 (France)

Also Known As:

Charleston

Company Credits

Production Co:

Néo-Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

17 min

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1