Charleston Parade (1926)

Original title

Sur un air de Charleston

Directed by

Jean Renoir

Genre

silent film

Country

France

Runtime

25 min

Rating

6.0 of 10 from 25 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A short silent film set in 2028, featuring a sensual dance between a white woman and a man in blackface. It reverses racial stereotypes, and was made quickly using leftover footage. The film includes a near-nude performance that faced censorship.

whimsicalplayfuldreamlikeunsettlingavant-gardeenergeticsensualdated

What happens

Charleston Parade (Sur un air de Charleston) is a short 1927 futuristic sensual dance fantasy film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Renoir's wife Catherine Hessling and the African American mime artist Johnny Hudgins. Hudgins performs in blackface. Originally titled Sur un air de Charleston, the film was released as Charleston Parade in English-speaking countries. Renoir would later remark that he directed this avant-garde film because he had "just discovered American jazz." He used some of the leftover footage from his previous film Nana. The film was shot in a three days in the autumn of 1926, but remained unfinished and is rarely shown. The film reverses racial stereotypes and is set in 2028. Censorship boards in some areas of the US and Europe protested against Catherine Hessling's near-nude dance performance. According to Renoir, the film was favourably reviewed by the press, "but this did nothing to open the doors of the popular cinemas." A restored version of the film was shown at the Grand Lyon Film Festival in 2018. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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