The French Way Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The French Way Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 4, 2018

It’s a little amazing in a way that there evidently seems to be only one “major” biographical film about Josephine Baker, and that was a made for television outing that came out in 1991. Baker is certainly one of the more fascinating show business characters of the 20th century, and it’s notable that one of the most fascinating show business characters of the 21st century, Beyoncé, tends to “channel” Baker on occasion in her performances, which might be a “teaser” of sorts for those who think Bae would make the same sort of appealing actress in a feature film about Baker as Diana Ross was years ago when she essayed Billie Holiday (to an Oscar nomination, no less) in Lady Sings the Blues. Those wanting a taste of the “real” Josephine Baker have been hard pressed to find her relatively few films on home video, and by my unscientific reckoning The French Way appears to be the first Baker outing to be released domestically on Blu-ray.

While it’s notable that Baker was actually able to forge something of a film career in France as a star, rather than as a featured player (a la Lena Horne), her role in The French Way is perhaps a salient example that even the French didn’t quite know how to shoehorn her into a plot. Here she’s kind of a third wheel, a nightclub chanteuse named Zazu (obviously referencing Baker’s most famous film) who helps to bring two star-crossed lovers together despite their families’ long standing feud (think Romeo and Juliet, albeit played putatively for laughs). Baker is charmingly ebullient throughout this enterprise, but the film is never quite as amusing as it seems to want to be. Baker does get to sing a couple of songs, which is when the film really takes flight.

The French Way Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The French Way is presented on Blu-ray by Sprocket Vault and Sabu Cat with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer 1.31:1. The back cover of this release states The French Way was "filmed in 1940" but was only "released in France in 1945, and briefly shown in the USA in 1952 where the oreder of some scenes was changed and about 2-3 minutes of 'dramatic' footage was cut." There are definite signs of cutting throughout the film, with some scenes (like Baker's introduction as she attempts to fashion curtains for her new flat) just ending midline, with underscore similarly suddenly cut off. The element used for this transfer is also littered with a lot of damage, including fairly large scratches, white flecks and other signs of the ravages of time. The biggest issue here for some, though, may be the encode — this is the rare transfer that does have grain but which at the same time looks smeary and waxlike a lot of the time. Contrast is also wildly uneven, and there are moments of near "white out" conditions at several moments where the image almost disappears before a more solid accounting of grayscale is achieved.

The French Way Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While arguably not quite as problematic as the video presentation, the LPCM 2.0 mono French track has its own share of issues, including the aforementioned cutoffs that are obviously due to the film having been trimmed at several junctures. The overall sound here is pretty tinny, with somewhat strident sounding high frequencies. There's also abundant hiss and occasional popping and crackling. Perhaps surprisingly, then, Baker's singing comes through the gauntlet relatively unscathed.

The French Way Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc has no supplemental material.

The French Way Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's absolutely commendable that someone thought to bring Baker's limited filmography to high definition, but the technical merits of this release leave something to be desired. It would be great if a label like Criterion or even ClassicFlix could get hold of elements closer to negatives (or at least in better shape), and then release a collection of Baker's work with some contextual supplementary material.