Georges Carpentier was a boxer, a world champion. I remember seeing him, when i was young, talking about his carreer in a french TV show. He was an old man, but tall and still handsome
I'm not so sure that this film was so "reviled" (as some say here) at the time. From what I've read, the public did eventually tire of such "revues", because the studios all were turning out their own versions, and I guess they decided that they preferred stories, rather than a string of specialty acts. Still, I imagine at the time that many moviegoers remained curious about how their silent stars sounded in the "talking pictures". And you can see that some money was thrown at these projects.
From Warner's "Show of Shows" the musical extravaganza, an incredible collections of stars and acts, parts were shot in colour, but lost, like the finale, some like the "Chinese fantasy" exist and have been posted.
I do hope it is true, a friend at the BFI says a copy in colour has been found in the US, it is 35mm distribution copy, not the special 60mm process used in major theatres. It is in several partial reels but basically complete. I will try to find out more details.
I saw this in 1984, and the audience just didn't understand that Carpentier was a boxer!.This movie as a whole was probably a lot better in Technicolor.
Not so much a bad film, look at the Date...1929, The Wall Street Crash was the main reason all films took less money for a while, Musicals were expensive to make, and they got cut first. The Public actually liked them , as soon as Warners resumed Musicals they were top earners again.
@ghbook Georges was my great great uncle. Thanks for your kind words about him. That's really made my day!
Another source of some of the routines in the Ken Russell THE BOYFRIEND
Georges Carpentier was a boxer, a world champion. I remember seeing him, when i was young, talking about his carreer in a french TV show. He was an old man, but tall and still handsome
Wow, what great choreography; and those gals could really do some high frontal kicks. Hehe
I'm not so sure that this film was so "reviled" (as some say here) at the time. From what I've read, the public did eventually tire of such "revues", because the studios all were turning out their own versions, and I guess they decided that they preferred stories, rather than a string of specialty acts. Still, I imagine at the time that many moviegoers remained curious about how their silent stars sounded in the "talking pictures". And you can see that some money was thrown at these projects.
From Warner's "Show of Shows" the musical extravaganza, an incredible collections of stars and acts, parts were shot in colour, but lost, like the finale, some like the "Chinese fantasy" exist and have been posted.
I do hope it is true, a friend at the BFI says a copy in colour has been found in the US, it is 35mm distribution copy, not the special 60mm process used in major theatres. It is in several partial reels but basically complete. I will try to find out more details.
Is the film available in 2024?
I saw this in 1984, and the audience just didn't understand that Carpentier was a boxer!.This movie as a whole was probably a lot better in Technicolor.
Not so much a bad film, look at the Date...1929, The Wall Street Crash was the main reason all films took less money for a while, Musicals were expensive to make, and they got cut first. The Public actually liked them , as soon as Warners resumed Musicals they were top earners again.
Underwear aerobics! Long before Jane Fonda