MovieChat Forums > The Josephine Baker Story (1991) Discussion > They Didnt Even Use Josephine's Voice!!!...

They Didnt Even Use Josephine's Voice!!!! What a shameful film

posted 17 years ago by mrlopez2681
9 replies | jump to latest

For those who know next to nothing about Josephine Baker's life and career (which is most people in the USA), this movie is a wonderful "stepping stone", and might inspire one to read more about her, or sample her many recordings. But it should be noted that this film is a completely romantisized version of the life of Baker. I have an extensive collection of Baker's performances on film, particularly from her later career, and it is obvious that the producers put very little effort into re-creating her performances. I am completely aware that it is extremely difficult to compress someone's life into a 2 hour film. But this film is a huge dissapointment.

The movie is certainly en par with the film "La Bamba", which profiled the life of singer Richie Valens, and didn't even bother to use the singer's real vocals and original recordings. So to does "The Josephine Baker Story" not once feature Baker's incredible voice, which is the biggest dissapointment of all. Rather we have one Carol Dennis (ex-wife of Bob Dylan, and a rather low grade singer at that) who substitutes La Baker's vocals. I have no clue why this was done- "Ray" used Ray Charles' original recordings, "La vie en rose" used Edith Piaf's real recordings, so why were Josephine's original recordings side lined? The majority of Baker's recordings were released via RCA and Columbia, and it is certainly possible that the companies denied use of any of her recordings.

Whatever the case, the screenplay is a horrific telling of a life that has so often been misunderstood. This film skips over key events in her life, and with little regard for the facts. For example, they dont show Baker's march with Dr. King, they didnt show Coretta Scott King asking Josephine to take her husband's place after his death, they dont even touch on her move to Monacco, her freindships, the fact that her sister lived with her, what Les Milandes REALLY was, the fact that she was the first entertainer to intergrate an american Theatre...I could go on and on.

I must stress that this film is NOT "Josephine Baker's Story", just as "Lady Sings the Blues" doesnt even come close to Billie Holiday's true life story.

To learn the tru "Josephine Baker Story", read "Josephine: The Hungry Heart" by Jean-Claude Baker and Chris Chase (1993), as well as "Josephine" by Joe Bouillon and Baker herself (1976). Theres also a great documentary called "Chasing a Rainbow".

To hear the real voice of Josephine Baker in all its spectacular glory (her voice from circa 1950 until her death was a far cry from the twittering and often shrill voice she held in the 1920s and 30s), I suggest the albums "The Fabulous Josephine Baker", "en la Habana", "Josephine a Bobino 1975", "C'est vous", and "Chante l'amour". Unfortuntely there are no DVDs available of her performances in her later life, when she was at the top of her game as an performer, but I have uploaded some clips to youtube under my name mrlopez2681, and there are others that some friends of mine have uploaded as well.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] riverlynx 16 years ago

Hey Dude yourself;

Actually,
I've got the DVD credits on a tiled screen; right in front of me, as I type this.

The Dance Double for Ms Whitfield was - "Paula Brown" - 2:05:50
Josephine's Singing Voice - was really by - "*Carol Dennis" - 2:07:50

*"Carol Dennis" was married to Bob Dylan at the time of this filming.
(June 4, 1986 - October 1992) (divorced) 1 child

Not to take anything away from Ms Whitfield's wonderful performance. They did a good job on this flick; just try to compress someone's very full life into 2 hours, It's very , very difficult. Ms Whitfield had to play her part from the age of 18 to 68; that is quite a spread. Just enjoy a good job by all concerned -- or maybe get busy and produce another version yourself, it could be great too; if you work as hard as they did on this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let's go kayaking!
Rio

[–] sherise123 16 years ago

I can understand why you would truly dislike this movie...but I don't think this movie was meant to focus on her career. After seeing this movie a couple of times, it looks like the focus was more towards her love life and emotional hardships; basically drama out the wazoo...lol.

It may not be the best comparison, but I think that this movie is more along the lines of what Richard Pryor's "Jo Jo Dancer Your Life is Calling" was rather than Ray Charles' "Ray".

Just my opinion :)

[–] APWindows 16 years ago

This movie makes Josephine seem better than she actually was. Yes, I've read "The Hungry Heart" and I found her to be a conceited, condescending, self-loathing, egotistical megalomaniac. Sure, she tried to help people but only when it suited her, or only when she wanted to make herself feel good. She wasted all her money and was basically homeless at one point, while trying to take care of her twelve adoptive kids who she didn't even treat properly.

She sent one of her kids away for being gay, even though she had gay friends...her (ex) husband was pretty much gay, and she had had lesbian relationships in the past. Hypocrite is another words you can call her.

All her grand cabarets were basically dried up by the 60s, I don't know what you're talking about. Her glory came in the 20s,30s, and 40s. By the 50s she was almost washed up, and by the 60s nobody really cared either way. All she did was use people, especially with her "friendship" with the royalty in Monaco.

Despite all this, nobody can deny Josephine's talent. Though she had many flaws, people put up with her because she was truly a fantastic entertainer. If it weren't for her great ability, nobody would've tried to bail her out as many times as everyone did.

[–] itsthejointdotnet 16 years ago

I have a strong hunch that Josephine suffered from bipolar disorder. The terrible handling of money, the never ending parade of lovers, the manic energy and total absence of sleep, the self-destructive behavior and constant shedding of people like a snake sheds skin, the raging self-hatred - those are all bipolar traits.

www.itsthejoint.net/community - a forum for lovers of black actors!

[–] mrlopez2681 16 years ago

Yes - all your comments concerning her personality are true, but the comment of her being conceited is a bit much, I have never encountered anything to back up such an accusation. That said, "The Josephine Baker Story" is even further from the truth. Many entertainers of her calabre possess(ed) similar personality traits. They simply arent like most people with regards to their personalities. It is the same with many entertainers, just like Piaf - if she wasnt so talented, why the hell would anyone have put up with all of her BS?

But to say that her performances were "dried up" by the 1960s is simply not true. I have plenty of these performances on film, all to sold out houses and standing ovations. Certainly her most "iconic" days were spent by WWII, but she was at the peak of her powers as a performer, and definately as a singer, by the 1950s, and she only got better as time went on.

[–] missmarie1971 16 years ago

Dude, relax. Do you have any clue how hard it is to cover someone's life, especially hers in a two hour movie? Thats what the books are for.

There are other things in the world worth getting hysterical over, this isn't one of them. Just because you didn't like the film (and you have a right) there is no need to slam anyone else who happened to like it.

[–] macklin-1 15 years ago

The movie is highly inacurate in times, events, and of course story. The real story is far more interesting BUT this movie was wonderfully entertaining and Whitfield's performance was outstanding. As first said in the orignal post, "it's a great place to start". I've learned a lot about Josephine since I first saw tis about 10 years ago.

Macklin Crew

[–] Rabbit_with_a_Gun12 10 years ago

Yea that is a long life span to put in a two hours movie but from what I seen in a documentary on her life, they pretty much cover the major parts of her life., Most of it was based on a personal level.

God has a hard on for marines because we kill everything we see. He plays his game, we play ours.