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US Mall 1 - Josephine Baker Story
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $3.77
Your Save: $ 6.21 ( 62% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Starring: Lynn Whitfield, Rubén Blades, David Dukes, Louis Gossett Jr., Craig T. Nelson
Directed By: Brian Gibson
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302555332
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 6302555337
Label: Hbo Home Video
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Hbo Home Video
Release Date: 1994-12-12
Running Time: 130
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1991-03-16
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!!
Comment: I was very pleased with the feedback I received. I knew when it was going to be shipped and what day it was going to arrive. I had absolutely no problems. Everything arrived intact and on time!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Goin' Bananas!!
Comment: Lynn Whitfield does an incredible portrayal of Josephine Baker. She carries the movie and truely becomes the character. I didn't even know who Josephine Baker was until seeing this, nor did I really care. I like films about interesting characters that face adversity, and a tragic ending, as sad as it is, makes for a good story. This film takes you on a journey through Josephine's life, and what makes it so special is the fantastic acting by Lynn Whitfield, and the singing and dancing numbers are incredible. I think she won an award for this movie if I'm not mistaken. What this world needs now is more Lynn Whitfield, where is she?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story
Comment: An awesome movie even for younger people who didn't know Josefine Baker. I shows very well how she had to deal with the culture clash between Europe and the United States (some of which is still in place today).
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully acted piece of fiction
Comment: Any time a movie is made about a real person, there will be complaints that certain things are not correct. We all know that events get changed, rearranged or omitted for the sake of moving a story along. But this isn't a complaint about small details being omitted or changed. This is a complaint about a story that is barely true.
I assume that Josephine's story was rewritten to make her a more likable person. By many accounts, she was both barely tolerable and extremely lovable, both brilliant and self-destructive, loving to a point of fault and downright disloyal, extremely insightful and downright delusional. Baker showed strong signs of what we now know is bipolar disorder. But rather than showing us the story of a woman whose inner demons and manic depression nearly swallowed her whole, we get poor, poor Josephine constantly falling victim to a series of unfortunate events and being blacklisted because of her participation in the civil rights movement. Nothing is ever Josephine's fault - not her exile from the United States (thanks to her pro-communist comments), nor her failed marriages (to men whom she abused and were abusive in return), nor her eventually losing Les Milandes (which was saved on four separate occasions before finally being sold).
Additionally, this film suggests that Baker was driven by racism and the desire to prove to a Jim Crow America that a black woman could be as successful and beloved as a white woman. I'm sure this was partially true. However, Baker had an streak of self-hatred in her, best evidenced by the constant changing of her father's race to depict herself as being biracial. (At one point, she went on record as saying he was a Spanish Jew.) Josephine despised light skinned blacks (possibly out of jealousy), shunned dating men of color (except for her first two husbands, whom she left and later denied existed), and rarely patronized African-American businesses until the U.S. government had all but deported her due to her fierce anti-American statements. One has to wonder if her sudden leap into the civil rights movement was spurned by her suddenly becoming persona non grata in the United States. Ironically, Baker had virtually nothing to say about the poor treatment of French Africans in her own country, possibly because there was no publicity in it.
Baker's relationships with husbands Abatino and Boulliard, husbands three and five, are misrepresented to the point of parody. Her film career, along with her pre-Paris career, is completely ignored. Her role in the civil rights movement, along with the Resistance, is so understated that it's offensive. Additionally - and this is why this film is a beautiful failure - there is little depiction of Josephine's hard work, insight, intelligence and drive. This film shows us an interracial version of "My Fair Lady," with Pepito more or less shaping the performer that Baker became. In fact, nearly all of Baker's success is due to whites in this movie, completely omitting the numerous African-Americans who worked so hard with and for Baker. Even Baker's family, who lived with Baker in France (brother Richard and his children, along with sister Margaret), are conspicuously absent from this film.
This isn't to say that the film should have trashed Baker, or portrayed her as a self-loathing loony bird who just so happened to sing and dance. Rather, I wish it had shown us a more multifacted character, a perpetual phoenix who spent her entire career destroying herself just to rise again, stronger and hotter than ever. There is no question that Whitfield deserved her Emmy award, but Josephine deserved more than what this movie gave her. TJBS is largely panned among Josephine Baker fans, with good reason. If you want to watch a wonderfully acted movie about a half naked, booty-shaking singer, this movie is fine. If you want to know about a legend whose work still impacts the entertainment industry over 30 years after her death, look elsewhere.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Viva La Baker!!! Felicidades Ms. Whitfield!!
Comment: After waiting years for La Diva Ross to finally bring the Josephine Baker story to the big screen, HBO upended her with this truly moving portrayal of a true American legend's story. In many ways, the screenplay pays homage to Ross' "Lady Sings the Blues" (Billie Holiday-Biopic). However, it is the stunning performance by Lynn Whitfield that ultimately satisfies. The art direction is on point, the costumes are fabulous and the music is addictive (I have searched for a soundtrack to this movie for years...to no avail). Ms. Whitfield won a well deserved Best Actress Emmy (making me still wince for Diana's efforts).Don't miss great supporting roles from Ruben Blades and the late David Dukes). It would be difficult to fully tell the story of La Baker.....but this one comes close.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!!
Comment: I was very pleased with the feedback I received. I knew when it was going to be shipped and what day it was going to arrive. I had absolutely no problems. Everything arrived intact and on time!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Goin' Bananas!!
Comment: Lynn Whitfield does an incredible portrayal of Josephine Baker. She carries the movie and truely becomes the character. I didn't even know who Josephine Baker was until seeing this, nor did I really care. I like films about interesting characters that face adversity, and a tragic ending, as sad as it is, makes for a good story. This film takes you on a journey through Josephine's life, and what makes it so special is the fantastic acting by Lynn Whitfield, and the singing and dancing numbers are incredible. I think she won an award for this movie if I'm not mistaken. What this world needs now is more Lynn Whitfield, where is she?
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great story
Comment: An awesome movie even for younger people who didn't know Josefine Baker. I shows very well how she had to deal with the culture clash between Europe and the United States (some of which is still in place today).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Beautifully acted piece of fiction
Comment: Any time a movie is made about a real person, there will be complaints that certain things are not correct. We all know that events get changed, rearranged or omitted for the sake of moving a story along. But this isn't a complaint about small details being omitted or changed. This is a complaint about a story that is barely true.
I assume that Josephine's story was rewritten to make her a more likable person. By many accounts, she was both barely tolerable and extremely lovable, both brilliant and self-destructive, loving to a point of fault and downright disloyal, extremely insightful and downright delusional. Baker showed strong signs of what we now know is bipolar disorder. But rather than showing us the story of a woman whose inner demons and manic depression nearly swallowed her whole, we get poor, poor Josephine constantly falling victim to a series of unfortunate events and being blacklisted because of her participation in the civil rights movement. Nothing is ever Josephine's fault - not her exile from the United States (thanks to her pro-communist comments), nor her failed marriages (to men whom she abused and were abusive in return), nor her eventually losing Les Milandes (which was saved on four separate occasions before finally being sold).
Additionally, this film suggests that Baker was driven by racism and the desire to prove to a Jim Crow America that a black woman could be as successful and beloved as a white woman. I'm sure this was partially true. However, Baker had an streak of self-hatred in her, best evidenced by the constant changing of her father's race to depict herself as being biracial. (At one point, she went on record as saying he was a Spanish Jew.) Josephine despised light skinned blacks (possibly out of jealousy), shunned dating men of color (except for her first two husbands, whom she left and later denied existed), and rarely patronized African-American businesses until the U.S. government had all but deported her due to her fierce anti-American statements. One has to wonder if her sudden leap into the civil rights movement was spurned by her suddenly becoming persona non grata in the United States. Ironically, Baker had virtually nothing to say about the poor treatment of French Africans in her own country, possibly because there was no publicity in it.
Baker's relationships with husbands Abatino and Boulliard, husbands three and five, are misrepresented to the point of parody. Her film career, along with her pre-Paris career, is completely ignored. Her role in the civil rights movement, along with the Resistance, is so understated that it's offensive. Additionally - and this is why this film is a beautiful failure - there is little depiction of Josephine's hard work, insight, intelligence and drive. This film shows us an interracial version of "My Fair Lady," with Pepito more or less shaping the performer that Baker became. In fact, nearly all of Baker's success is due to whites in this movie, completely omitting the numerous African-Americans who worked so hard with and for Baker. Even Baker's family, who lived with Baker in France (brother Richard and his children, along with sister Margaret), are conspicuously absent from this film.
This isn't to say that the film should have trashed Baker, or portrayed her as a self-loathing loony bird who just so happened to sing and dance. Rather, I wish it had shown us a more multifacted character, a perpetual phoenix who spent her entire career destroying herself just to rise again, stronger and hotter than ever. There is no question that Whitfield deserved her Emmy award, but Josephine deserved more than what this movie gave her. TJBS is largely panned among Josephine Baker fans, with good reason. If you want to watch a wonderfully acted movie about a half naked, booty-shaking singer, this movie is fine. If you want to know about a legend whose work still impacts the entertainment industry over 30 years after her death, look elsewhere.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Viva La Baker!!! Felicidades Ms. Whitfield!!
Comment: After waiting years for La Diva Ross to finally bring the Josephine Baker story to the big screen, HBO upended her with this truly moving portrayal of a true American legend's story. In many ways, the screenplay pays homage to Ross' "Lady Sings the Blues" (Billie Holiday-Biopic). However, it is the stunning performance by Lynn Whitfield that ultimately satisfies. The art direction is on point, the costumes are fabulous and the music is addictive (I have searched for a soundtrack to this movie for years...to no avail). Ms. Whitfield won a well deserved Best Actress Emmy (making me still wince for Diana's efforts).Don't miss great supporting roles from Ruben Blades and the late David Dukes). It would be difficult to fully tell the story of La Baker.....but this one comes close.
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