Possibly the oddest Jean Renoir film you will ever see!
© Lions Gate Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.
DVD TITLE: Charleston Parade (Sur un air de Charleston ) – Part of the Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector’s Edition
DURATION: 20 minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Silent, 4×3 Full Screen, Black and White, Subtitles: English
COMPANY: Studio Canal/Lionsgate
RATED: NOT RATED
RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2007
Directed by Jean Renoir
Idea by Andre Cerf
Scenario by Pieere Lestringuez
Produced by Pierre Braunberger
Cinematography by Jean Bachelet
Starring:
Catherine Hessling as Parisian Savage
Johnny Huggins as African Explorer
In Renoir’s silent erotic fantasy, a young woman (Catherine Hessling) in a post apocalyptic Paris performs an exuberant Charleston for a traveler and draws him into her way of life.
Director Jean Renoir (“Grand Illusion”, “The Rules of the Game”, “The River”) began his career in silent films in 1925 with “La File De L’eau” (Whirlpool of Fate) in which he showcased his first wife Catherine Hessling (who originally never intended to be an actress at the time) as the main actress. As both were fans of American cinema and American jazz, the two wanted to show their love of American jazz through the silent film “Sur Un Air De Charleston” (Charleston Parade) in 1927.
The film is among the seven films included in Studio Canal/Lionsgate box set “Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector’s Edition” which features Renoir’s earlier silent films including his debut film “La Fille De L’eau” (Whirpool of Fate, 1925), “Nana” (1926), “La Petite Marchande D’Allumettes” (1928, The Little Match Girl), “La Marsellaise (1938), “Le Testament Du Docteur Cordelier” (The Doctor’s Horrible Experiment, 1959) and “Le Corporal Epingle” (The Elusive Corporal, 1962).
“Sur Un Air De Charleston” (Charleston Parade) An odd but erotic fantasy in which Hessling plays a Parisian savage who lives with a gorilla in the streets of Paris in 2028 which has suffered after a catastrophic world war. Storefronts and roads are literally destroyed.
Meanwhile, in Central Africa, an African explorer (played by vaudeville actor Johnny Hudgins) goes to explore an unknown area and discovers the woman. The woman immediately ties him up and the man fears he will be eaten but what she ends up doing is teaching him the dance, “The Charleston” and immediately he is fascinated by such dance and the female savages teaches the man how to do the dance.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“Charleston Parade (Sur un air de Charleston )” is featured in 4×3 Full Screen, Black and White with French Interstitials and English subtitles. This silent film comes with no optional score.
“Sur un air de Charleston” (Charleston Parade) is an odd silent film from Jean Renoir. I’ve read and heard many times about his passion for American cinema and jazz music and this film is his ode to incorporating that passion in 1927. I have to say that I was a bit amazed by Catherine Hessling’s appearance in the film as she is semi-nude, opens her legs directly to the camera and knowing that Hessling used to mime a lot of what she saw from American cinema, for a silent film, I don’t think I have yet seen anything like her performance such as what is shown in this short film. But I don’t think Hessling would be bothered by such a role as she was a nude model for Renoir’s father, the popular painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
Some may wonder if Jean Renoir was either on drugs or he just had one hell of an imaginative mind.  You have a savage with her ape, an explorer from Africa and angels with big human heads. Needless to say, Renoir has created an unusual but erotic fantasy that takes place in a futuristic world that has been destroyed due to war. And to think this is Renoir’s vision for the film that takes 100-years after the film was created. I thought it was very cool to see the production design of this destruction of scenery in post-war Paris incorporated in this silent film but also the dance choreography and seeing Renoir using speed for certain shots.
But for many people, silent films especially vaudeville films with people in black face are regarded as racist. Johnny Hudgins was among the few Black men who performed for a white audience in black face (making him much darker) and white lips. In fact, some scenes and even dialogue have racial overtones in which the tied up explorer asks the savage that she can eat him after she shows him the Charleston dance. The savage woman shows a face that she is about to gag and tells him that she will not eat him because she doesn’t like black meat.
But the heart of the film is the dancing by both Hessling and Hudgins. Modern viewers can see how certain dances that we see in the film have been interpreted into modern dance routines.
Overall, “Sur un air de Charleston” (Charleston Parade) is such an odd film that sticks out compared to all the films Jean Renoir has directed. It is a film that people will see as racist as Hudgin’s character as the explorer is shown as a buffoon, considering that here is a man that is an explorer and operating a flying aircraft as opposed to a savage girl wearing next to nothing who hangs out with an ape. But I understand that it’s a film which was a sign of the times, it is a French film and knowing that most countries considering “Black face”as part of their entertainment and many consider Americans being more sensitive to the issue than they are.
But however you may feel about “Black face”, “Sur un air de Charleston” (Charleston Parade) is part of the earlier works of Jean Renoir and it is included in this box set. As a person who have watched a good number of his films, many of his earlier films especially with his first wife Catherine Hessling, seems to be films that were created for her benefit or their benefit as a couple. His work definitely changed in the next decade and even moreso, a few decades after his two masterpiece “La Grand Illusion” and “La Regle du jeu” (The Rules of the Game) were created.
For those who are Renoir fans or interested in his work, “Jean Renoir 3-Disc Collector’s Edition” is still a worthy set to add to your auteur cinema collection, especially since you can find it for under $15 these days.