Princesse Tam Tam

Gréville had a cinematically adventurous side, but principally he was one of the most dedicated crumpeteers ever to direct even a French movie, and his horrible predicament here was to be assigned a spectacularly sexual leading lady who, because she was black, he was required to de-eroticise. Baker plays a Bedouin beggar taken up, rather as a pet, by wealthy novelist Préjean (a straight-looking Edward Everett Horton, of scant appeal today). He introduces her to the glamorous complications of Paris, she falls unrequitedly (well, of course) in love, ho-hum. From first shot (close-up of a slapped face) to last (a donkey munching a copy of Civilisation) Gréville keeps things on the boil, but still - a no-win situation from everybody's point of view.