Joséphine Baker, Renaissance Woman

Josephine Baker (1906-1975) was an American singer and dancer who became a legend in Europe. In 1925, 'the Bronze Venus' became an instant success in Paris with her coffee skin, ebony eyes, long legs, and 'smile to end all smiles'. She was the first African American female to become a world-famous entertainer, to integrate an American concert hall, and to star in a major film, the French production La Sirene des Tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (1927). For Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026, Emilie Cauquy curated the program 'Joséphine Baker, Renaissance Woman, ' showing Baker's full filmography, spiced up by a selection of newsreels from Gaumont Pathé archives and rarities.


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag, no. 5293. Photo: Walery, Paris.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition (CE), no. 531. Photo: Walery, Paris. Josephine Baker in La revue des revues / Parisian Pleasures (Joe Francis, 1927). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French postcard by Ajax, no. 31. Photo: Josephine Baker. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Caption: The black Venus.


Small French card by Columbia. Photo: d'Ora.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 66. Photo: Henri Manuel.

Racial discrimination

Josephine Baker was born Frida Josephine McDonald in 1906, in St. Louis, Missouri, US. Her mother, Carrie McDonald, was a laundress, and her father, Eddie Carson, a Vaudeville drummer. Between the ages of 8 and 10 she was out of school, helping to support her family. As a child Baker developed a taste for the flamboyant that was later to make her famous. At age 11, Josephine witnessed racist attacks on Black people in neighboring East St. Louis, in which at least 39 people were killed. Josephine dropped out of school at the age of 12, and first danced for the public on the streets of St. Louis for nickels and dimes.

At 13, she married Willie Wells, who was 26. They pretended she was 15. The marriage to Wells lasted less than a year. At 15, she married a Pullman porter named William Howard Baker. Two years later, she left him, but kept his name. Josephine was recruited for the St. Louis Chorus Vaudeville Show. Later, she joined the chorus in a road company (Jones Family Band and the Dixie Steppers) performing the musical comedy 'Shuffle Along' (1923). She headed to New York City, where during the Harlem Renaissance, she performed at the Plantation Club and in the chorus of the popular Broadway revue 'The Chocolate Dandies' (1924).

She performed as the last dancer in a chorus line, a position in which the dancer traditionally performed comically, as if they were unable to remember the dance, until the encore. At the encore, they would not only perform it correctly but also with additional complexity. Baker was then billed as 'the highest-paid chorus girl in Vaudeville.' The first time she left for France was in 1925, after she had been scouted by the white producer Caroline Dudley Reagan, wife of Joseph Delteil and creator of the famous Revue Nègre. Dudley Reagan requested her to come to perform in Paris with a black performing troupe. Paris was a haven for artists and intellectuals in the 1920s. Josephine Baker opened in Paris in 'La revue negre' at the Théatre des Champs-Élysées. The show was a resounding success. The final number of the evening, 'Danse Sauvage' (Wild Dance), was particularly popular. In this number, Baker was carried onto the stage by a muscular male dancer. She was naked (except for a skirt made of flamingo feathers) and seemingly lifeless. But she soon threw herself into a frenzied dance. As she danced more wildly, she rubbed against the man in a way that was unmistakable.

Curator Emilie Cauquy writes on the Il Cinema Ritrovato website: "Joséphine Baker was never just the woman with the banana skirt. She was a shockwave. Bursting onto the Paris scene of the 1920s, she carved herself into the collective imagination with a body in excessive motion, both fetishized and fiercely independent. Born on the streets of St. Louis, her art came from survival, improvisation, and jazz. Renaissance! Europe wanted 'the jungle', Baker brought the street, turning exoticization into both a weapon and a disguise. Her image, between nudity and animality, fed colonial fantasies, yet she constantly sabotaged them through exaggeration, grimace and refusal of stillness."

Marlene Pilaete reacts in a mail: "I'm always a bit puzzled by those 'modern' relectures of past performers, especially when I read this in the Cinema Ritrovato program about Josephine Baker: 'Her image, between nudity and animality, fed colonial fantasies, yet she constantly sabotaged them through exaggeration, grimace and refusal of stillness'. They rewrite history with present-day anti-colonialist lenses. It's funny, about 20-30 years ago, nobody talked about this 'theory' of Baker making faces and dancing energetically to debunk colonial clichés. Baker herself was clear in her 1949 book 'Mes Mémoires'. She referred to her stage career in the U.S. before she came to France and said this about it: 'I've moved from the background to the foreground by dint of crossing my eyes and throwing my arms and legs above the spectators' heads'. It was just her way to stand out from the other chorus girls. She simply used grimaces and exaggerated movements in France because they had brought her success in the U.S., and certainly not to deliberately sabotage colonial fantasies. The fact that Baker attended the 1931 Exposition Coloniale (as proven by the Pernod card I used in my November 2021 EFSP post) proves that, at the time, she didn't really care about colonialism and colonial clichés. I don't know why some people want to transform the young Josephine Baker into an anti-colonialist icon. It seems too difficult for them to simply accept her as a young and ebullient girl eager to please. She was handsomely paid for dancing half-naked or for wearing a banana belt. She gave European audiences what they wanted to see, without a second thought and with no anti-colonialist perspective. She only became a militant activist later in her life."


American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. F291. Photo: James Abbe. Josephine Baker in 'La revue negre'.


French postcard by Editions Damilla, Paris, no. 95070. Photo: R.V.


French postcard. Photo: Roger Viollet. Caption: Josephine Baker (1906-1975), American music-hall artist, May 1926.


British postcard by James Gardiner Postcards, Watford, in The Glamour Queens series, no. 8, 1988. Caption: Josephine Baker, 1927.


American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. HH13, 1979. Photo: George Hoyningen-Huene. Caption: Josephine Baker, c. 1930.


French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. CF 40. Josephine Baker and Jean Gabin in Zouzou (Marc Allégret, 1934).

Banana dance

Europe was a sensation for Josephine Baker. When she enjoyed lunch in the dining car of the boat train to Paris, it was the first time she had sat among only white people. In 'La Revue Nègre' (1925) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, she performed her 'Danse Sauvage', dressed only in ostrich feathers. In the show, she also wore a skirt made of imitation bananas, shamelessly portraying a caricature of how most white people viewed someone of African descent at the time. When Baker began performing in Paris, jazz was still a novelty to the European audience. Her fusion of jazz, charleston, and improvised African rhythms was particularly popular in avant-garde artistic circles. Paris was a haven for artists and intellectuals in the 1920s. In 1926, she interrupted the company's European tour and returned to Paris, where she joined the Folies Bergère with the act 'La Folie du Jour'.

In 1928, she undertook another European tour with her company, which caused quite a stir. For instance, her performances were met with fierce protests from conservative quarters in Austria, but she enjoyed great success in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Italy. In Munich, her performance was even banned in 1929 for 'offending public morals'. In 1929, she travelled through Central Europe on the Orient Express with her lover at the time, Giuseppe Pepito Abatino, visiting Yugoslavia and Hungary. In Serbia, she gave a charity performance for the benefit of children living in poverty. Back in Paris, she joined the Folies Bergère for several years. From then on, she was given nicknames such as 'Black Venus', 'The Black Pearl', and 'The Creole Goddess'. She quickly became a favourite of the French, and her fame grew.

Baker performed in a handful of silent and early sound films, including La Sirene des Tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (Henri Étiévant, Mario Nalpas, 1927) at the side of Pierre Batcheff, Zouzou (Marc Allégret, 1934) opposite Jean Gabin, and La princesse Tam Tam / Princess Tam-Tam (Edmond T. Gréville, 1935) with Albert Préjean. At this time, she also scored her greatest song hit, 'J'ai deux amours' (1931).

In 1936, Baker left for the US and expected a warm welcome. But it turned out to be a cold shower. On Broadway, she performed in 'Ziegfeld Follies' for which Vincente Minnelli had designed the sets and costumes, and Ira Gershwin had written the music. Theatre critics slammed her performances with racist remarks. Time called her a 'negro girl without particular talent'. Disillusioned, she returned to France.

Josephine Baker resolved to settle permanently in the country where she had already been received with open arms and was adored. In Paris, she felt at home and could be who she was. In 1937, she renounced her American citizenship and became a citizen of France. During the German occupation of France, Baker worked with the Red Cross and the Résistance, and as a member of the Free French forces she entertained troops in Africa and the Middle East. She was later awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honour with the rosette of the Résistance.


French promotional postcard. Photo: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (Mario Nalpas, Henri Étiévant, 1927). Collection: Marlene Pilaete. The script was written by Maurice Dekobra.


French promotional postcard. Photo: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques / Siren of the Tropics (Mario Nalpas, Henri Étiévant, 1927). Collection: Marlene Pilaete. The script was written by Maurice Dekobra.


French promotion card by Clacquesin. Caption: I have two loves... my pleasure and my health. Both are perfect thanks to Clacquesin. Josephine Baker.


French postcard by Éditions et Publications cinématographiques, no. 74. Photo: Films Roussillon. Josephine Baker in Zouzou (Marc Allégret, 1934).


French postcard, no. 612. Photo: Piaz, Paris.


French postcard. Photo: Harcourt. A previous owner of this card wrote in pencil on the back that it was related to the revue 'Paris-London' at the Casino de Paris (1939-1940). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.

Communist sympathiser?

After the war, Josephine Baker devoted much of her energy to Les Milandes, her estate in southwestern France, from which she began in 1950 to adopt babies of all nationalities in the cause of what she defined as 'an experiment in brotherhood' and her 'rainbow tribe'. ‘Children of different races who grew up as brothers and sisters do not suffer from racial hatred. That is something people invented,’ she explained. Baker retired from the stage in 1956, but to maintain Les Milandes she was later obliged to return, starring in Paris in 1959.

Although based in France, Baker supported the American Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s. In 1951, the Stork Club in New York City refused to serve her because she was black. Grace Kelly, who was also in the club, witnessed the incident. She resolutely took Baker by the arm and together they left the club – followed by Kelly’s friends. This incident led to a confrontation with right-wing columnist Walter Winchell. In 1951, the civil rights organization NAACP named her ‘Woman of the Year’. Later, she was falsely accused of being a 'communist sympathiser', and the FBI started a file on her. The FBI often used this term for the civil rights movement. During the McCarthy era, she was told that she was no longer welcome in the United States. In France, she was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, France's highest honour, in 1961. In 1963, she participated with 250,000 others in Martin Luther King’s march on Washington. ‘I have visited royal palaces and presidential residences and much more. But in the US, I can’t even get a cup of coffee in a hotel. That makes me angry,’ she said in a speech, just before King’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.

In the late 1960s, she began having financial difficulties and stopped performing. In 1968 her estate was sold to satisfy accumulated debt. Princess Grace offered her a home in Monaco when she learned of Josephine's financial problems. At the request of the Princess, she performed at Monaco's summer ball in 1974, and it was a great success. That same year, she staged a week of performances in New York and called the show 'An Evening with Josephine Baker'.

In April 19075, Josephine Baker performed a Paris revue to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Paris debut. The first show in Paris drew a full house. Baker danced on stage with youthful energy and changed outfits 12 times. Among the guests were stars such as Liza Minnelli, Mick Jagger, and Sophia Loren. A congratulatory telegram arrived from French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing. A few days later, on 10 April 1975, she was stricken and went into a coma. She died later that day at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital from the effects of a cerebral hemorrhage. Baker received a funeral in Paris which was televised. 20,000 viewers watched as the flag-decorated coffin was driven to the Sainte-Marie-Madeleine church in Paris. She was buried in Monaco. On 30 November 2021, she was symbolically interred in the Panthéon in Paris. Her life was dramatised in the television movie The Josephine Baker Story (1991) and was showcased in the documentary Joséphine Baker. Première icône noire / Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening (2018).

Josephine Baker was married six times: to foundry worker Willie Wells (1919), William Howard Baker (1921-1923), 'Count' Pepito di Abatino (1926), French sugar magnate Jean Lion (1937-1938), orchestra leader Joe Bouillon (1947-1957) and finally to American artist Robert Brady (1973 till her death in 1975). Baker was bisexual. Having been married to multiple men, she also maintained relationships with women throughout her adult life. Her famous lovers included the French writer Colette, whom Baker described as ‘the most beautiful panther’, and Cuban artist Frida Kahlo. Baker adopted 12 children, partly because she couldn't have any of her own and partly because she believed in equality for all, no matter what nationality, religion or race. Although Baker's children lacked nothing, some of them later indicated that they felt more like props in a project than living people. 'They were a kind of puppets to her', said her adopted son Jean-Claude Baker, who later wrote a critical biography of Josephine.


French postcard by Ray. Delvert, Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Josephine Baker and her fourth husband, Jo Bouillon, in the park of their Château des Milandes in the commune of Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the Dordogne. In 1937, Baker rented the château and moved there after the German invasion of Paris in 1941. She used it as a centre for resistance activity. In 1947, she and Jo Bouillon bought the château. There, they carried out their project to adopt children of different nationalities, to prove that the cohabitation of different 'races' could work admirably. Finally, they adopted twelve children. All the children that the couple adopted bear the name Bouillon. Baker and Bouillon separated in 1957 and divorced in 1961. In 1969, Baker had to give up the castle for financial reasons. There is now a museum dedicated to her.


French postcard by Éditions Jean Farcigny, Courbevoie. Photo: Lipnitzki / Viollet. Caption: Josephine Baker at L'Olympia in April 1964.


French postcard by Cie. des Arts Photomécaniques, Paris, no. 1556. Photo: Josephine Baker and Jo Bouillon. Caption: Les Milandes - 'Jorama' 1949. Josephine Sings.


French postcard “Lumicap” by Compagnie des Arts Photomécaniques, Paris. This card shows Josephine and her fourth husband, Jo Bouillon, with the first nine children they adopted: Aiko, Luis, Janot, Jari, Jean-Claude, Moïse, Brahim, Marianne, and Koffi. Later, three more children were added to the 'Rainbow Tribe': Mara and Noël in 1959 and Stellina in 1962 or 1964 (sources differ). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Dutch postcard, no. AX 3771.


Czech postcard by Edice z Videni, no 488. Photo: Miroslav Hucek. Caption: Josephine Bakerova (1970).


Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 5293, 1970.


Josephine Baker performs the 'Danse sauvage' (Banana Dance) at the Folies Bergères. Source: Dwan (YouTube).


Josephine Baker in Pathécolor, shot for the French silent film La Revue Des Revues (1927). Source: Alhambra Museet for humor og satire Frederiksberg (YouTube).

Sources: Il Cinema Ritrovato, Britannica, Historia (Dutch), Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb. With additional info by Marlene Pilaete.

Easy Living with Mitchell Leisen

Cinema Ritrovato 2026 presents an interesting section in 'The Cinephile's Heaven' on Hollywood director and production designer Mitchell Leisen, curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht: "In a light, sophisticated no-man’s-land (yes, largely inhabited by women) between romantic comedy, screwball, and pure Paramount aestheticism, the cinema of Mitchell Leisen comes to life. A former silent-era costume and set designer, Leisen became renowned for classics such as Easy Living (1937), Hold Back the Dawn (1940), and Midnight (1939), and was the only Hollywood director to sign his name in his films’ credits. No auteur theory was needed to recognise his unmistakable qualities: an effortless narrative flow, impeccable design, and sparkling, innuendo-laced dialogue – sometimes written by Preston Sturges, Billy Wilder, or Charles Brackett – alongside heroines as charming as they were uncompromising. In his films, Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Barbara Stanwyck, and Jean Arthur radiated wit, grace, and razor-sharp comic timing. They twisted conventions as their encounters with men – often played by Ray Milland or Fred MacMurray – spiralled from mishap to romantic resolution." For EFSP, we selected 18 postcards of Leisen's films.


Spanish postcard by Productos Compactos, no. 44523. Ray Milland and Jean Arthur in Easy Living (Mitchell Leisen, 1937).


French postcard by EC, no. 561. Photo: Paramount Pictures. Fredric March in Death Takes a Holiday (Mitchell Leisen, 1934).


Dutch postcard. Dorothy Lamour in Swing High, Swing Low (Mitchell Leisen, 1937). Costume by Travis Banton. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


German collector card by Ross Verlag. Photo: Paramount. Don Ameche and Claudette Colbert in Midnight (Mitchell Leisen, 1939).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 214. Photo: Eugene Robert Richee / Paramount. Veronica Lake in I Wanted Wings (Mitchell Leisen, 1941).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 204. Photo: Paramount. Ginger Rogers in Lady in the Dark (Mitchell Leisen, 1944).

The women in Leisen’s films are front and centre

James Mitchell Leisen was born in 1898 in Menominee, Michigan. Leisen grew up in St. Louis with his mother, following her divorce from his father, a partner in a brewery company. From an early age, 'Mitch' suffered the effects of a poorly performed foot operation, which left him with a permanent limp. This condition had a lasting impact on his life. His stepfather sent him to military school because he and his mother were concerned about what they perceived to be his lack of masculinity. Leisen later attended Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied architecture. After his studies, he moved to Chicago to work in the advertising section of the art department for the Chicago Tribune. He held a second job with the architectural firm Marshall & Fox, while acting in his spare time.

Leisen moved to Los Angeles in an effort to enter the film industry. Although he had little success as an actor, he found work designing sets for community theatre. He was soon hired as a costume designer by Cecil B. DeMille, beginning with Male and Female (Cecil B. DeMille, 1919). He became a production designer for Don’t Change Your Husband (Cecil B. DeMille, 1919). DeMille was known for his despotic nature, but Leisen was one of his few colleagues at Paramount with whom he got along. We worked for DeMille until 1922, then moved on to United Artists to design costumes for Douglas Fairbanks, such as Robin Hood (Allan Dwan, 1922) and The Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924). Leisen later also did the production design for De Mille's films The King of Kings (1927), Dynamite (1929), Madam Satan (1930) and The Sign of the Cross (1932), for which he worked both as a production designer and assistant director.

At the Academy Awards ceremony in April 1930, Mitchell Leisen was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Production Design category for his work on the film Dynamite (Cecil B. DeMille, 1929). He worked in the dual capacity of costume designer and art director at MGM (1929-1931) and at Paramount (1932-1933). Then he became Paramount's most reliable contract director (1933-1951), noted for visual elegance and for his ability to direct actresses. He continued to design costumes for many of his cast members well into his later directing career. After serving as the assistant director to Stuart Walker on two films in 1933, Leisen was given his chance to solo direct Cradle Song (1933). Then he directed the elegantly made allegory Death Takes a Holiday (1934). Fredric March played Death incarnate, who visits an Italian villa to observe humanity in action and then falls in love with a woman (Evelyn Venable) who gives up her life to be with him.

In 1935, Leisen had his breakthrough. Britannica: "Hands Across the Table (1935) established a template Leisen would use repeatedly in other romantic comedies: a strong independent woman cannot prevent herself from falling in love with a man who is undeniably charming but does not bring much else to the table. This time, an effervescent Carole Lombard played a manicurist who gives up her fortune-hunting ways after becoming smitten with a stone-broke playboy (Fred MacMurray)." The Screwball Comedy made Lombard one of Paramount's great female stars alongside Claudette Colbert, and established Lombard and MacMurray as a screen couple. Leisen got along particularly well with Colbert, who delivered one of her finest performances in his witty Screwball Comedy Midnight (1939), scripted by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder. Colbert starred as a showgirl in Paris who is hired by a millionaire (John Barrymore) to impersonate a Hungarian countess as part of a plan to forestall the potential infidelity of his wife (Mary Astor). Colbert, known to be extremely concerned with her appearance and for her neurosis of only showing the left side of her profile, was always directed by Leisen on aesthetic matters, but otherwise needed almost no direction.

In many of his films at Paramount Pictures, female characters were central to the narrative, and their perspectives shaped the story. He was a typical 'woman’s director' also because of his close working relationships with actresses. Britannica: "[His films] were often dominated by strong female leads such as Barbara Stanwyck, Paulette Goddard, Olivia de Havilland, Claudette Colbert, and Carole Lombard, who were rarely paired with a male actor of equal stature or presence. The women in Leisen’s films were front and centre; their stories were the story." Leisen also got along well with Jean Arthur, another strong actress with a very particular 'good side' (this time her right side). She delivered one of her best performances in Easy Living (1937). The film itself is a classic Screwball Comedy with mistaken identity, misapprehensions, and serendipity at the centre of the story. Arthur plays an office worker who becomes the accidental owner of a valuable fur coat thrown out by a wealthy banking tycoon (Edward Arnold). Later, she is involved with a bumbling waiter (Ray Milland) who, unbeknownst to her, is the banker’s slumming scion.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 40/1. Photo: IFA / United Artists. Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad (Raoul Walsh, 1924). Production design: Mitchell Leisen.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/2. Photo: National Film. Postcard for the American silent epic The King of Kings (Cecil B. DeMille, 1927). Production design: Mitchell Leisen. Caption: Mary Magdalene. The charioteer was played by Noble Johnson, while Jacqueline Logan played Mary Magdalene.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 86/6. Photo: National-Film. Victor Varconi, H.B. Warner, and Rudolph Schildkraut in King of Kings (Cecil B. De Mille, 1927). Production design: Mitchell Leisen. Caption: Caiaphas accuses Jesus before Pontius Pilate.


Italian postcard by Cinema-Illustrazione, Milano, Serie 2, no. 30. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Kay Johnson and Reginald Denny in Madam Satan (Cecil B. DeMille, 1930). Production design: Mitchell Leisen.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 176/12. Photo: Paramount. Elissa Landi in the American epic The Sign of the Cross (Cecil B. DeMille, 1932), based on the original 1895 play by Wilson Barrett. Production design: Mitchell Leisen.


Dutch postcard by M. Bonnist & Zonen, Amsterdam-Z., no. B 299. Photo: Paramount. Dorothea Wieck in Cradle Song (Mitchell Leisen, 1933).

A bold and flamboyant exploration of the world of dreams

Mitchell Leisen's forte were comedies and romances. Leisen’s first film of the 1940s, Remember the Night (1940), featured a funny script by Preston Sturges and starred Fred MacMurray again, this time opposite Barbara Stanwyck. She played a recidivist shoplifter who gets caught at Christmastime. A softhearted prosecutor (MacMurray) takes her home during the court’s holiday recess to his family in Indiana, where they fall in love. Quite dark is Hold Back the Dawn, the third and last of the Wilder films, which lacks the sparkling surface of farce. Stuck in a grim Mexican border town, a Romanian gigolo (Charles Boyer) marries a virginal schoolteacher (Olivia de Havilland) purely to immigrate to the United States. Leisen's best films were often scripted by Preston Sturges or Billy Wilder. In the space of three years, he directed three hugely successful films based on screenplays by Wilder and Charles Brackett. Although their success was very important in helping Wilder move into directing himself, Wilder never had a good word to say about Leisen or his abilities as a filmmaker. At Senses of Cinema, David Melville defends Leisen: "Midnight (1939) – a frothy romantic farce directed by Leisen from a Wilder script – is a sharper and more stylish satire than Wilder’s own Sabrina (1954) or Love in the Afternoon (1957). A socially-conscious soap opera, Hold Back the Dawn (1941) – again, written by Wilder but directed by Leisen – packs a far greater punch than Wilder’s own Ace in the Hole (1951). Lacking Wilder’s pervasive sourness and contempt, Hold Back the Dawn views its hicks and whores and schemers through a veil of sympathy, suggesting they might have reasons to act as they do" Some critics assigned the lion’s share of the credit for Easy Living (1937), to Preston Sturges’s clever screenplay, whereas others praised Leisen for deftly preventing that script from being overly talky. In either case, Sturges was unhappy with the handling of his material by Leisen. Sturges accused him of being more interested in the set design than the story and claimed that his disappointment led him to become a director.

When Sturges and Wilder turned to directing their own films from the early 1940s, Leisen's own career began to decline. In the mid-1940s, he directed two opulent costume dramas: Frenchman’s Creek (1944), based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier. Joan Fontaine starred as an English noblewoman who becomes a dashing French pirate's (Arturo de Córdova) bride by night. Such melodramas were very popular in England at the time. The sly social comedy Kitty (1945) was a Cinderella tale set in 18th-century London that Paulette Goddard brought to life. For two years, Leisen studied the painting techniques of Thomas Gainsborough – copying the wigs, breeches, hats and fans of Georgian England to the last detail. Lady in the Dark (1944) was Leisen's version of the inventive Broadway musical of the same name by Moss Hart, Kurt Weill, and Ira Gershwin. Ginger Rogers plays a fashion magazine editor plagued by indecision over men (Ray Milland, Warner Baxter and Jon Hall). She seeks help in psychoanalysis, and Leisen visualises her erotic longings in dreams. The ambitious effort received mixed reviews from critics, despite a high budget. Comparisons with the Broadway show, in which Gertrude Lawrence and Danny Kaye had important roles, were mostly negative. However, the film had some well-staged numbers, and in particular, the heroine's dream sequences in Technicolor were spectacular. Leisen supervised and contributed his creative, imaginative set and costume ideas, and made suggestions in the creation of the scenery and costume applications. He was also instrumental in creating the mink-fur skirted gown lined in jewels for Ginger Rogers' musical circus sequence.

In 1946, he helped Olivia de Havilland win the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of a single mother in the drama To Each His Own (1946), which won her the 1947 Academy Award for Best Actress. The film was de Havilland's first release after she had taken her long-running legal battle with Warner Brothers all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The actress won the case. De Havilland continually cited Leisen as the favourite among her directors. Britannica: "To Each His Own (1946), one of Leisen’s most highly regarded films, earned the respect of critics who praised his deft, sensitive handling of a story that might have easily descended into maudlin melodrama in another director’s hands." Toward the end of the decade, Leisen experienced a creative slump, and except for No Man of Her Own (1950), his films were less successful at the box office. No Man of Her Own features Barbara Stanwyck in a typical Joan Crawford role: a young woman with a shady past leaves her abusive lover, assumes the identity of a rich, dead woman after a train wreck, and experiences moments of happiness until the truth comes out.

At the 1951 Berlin International Film Festival, his Screwball Comedy The Mating Season (1951), starring Gene Tierney, won a Bronze Bear. It was his last big film success. It is a tart comedy, co-scripted by Charles Brackett, grounded in American class distinctions. Thelma Ritter plays a working-class woman who moves in with her ambitious yuppie son (John Lund) and his high-toned wife (Gene Tierney). She hides her identity by posing as their servant. It earned Ritter an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1951, Mitchell Leisen left Paramount to freelance, believing that the studio was giving him inferior scripts to force him to relinquish his remunerative contract. His final feature film was the musical The Girl Most Likely (1957), starring Jane Powell. As his film work ebbed away, Leisen continued to design gowns, stage nightclub acts, and decorate luxury homes. He co-directed two documentaries, Here’s Las Vegas (1964) and Spree (Walon Green, Mitchell Leisen, 1967) on the nightlife of Las Vegas. He also directed various episodes of series such as The Twilight Zone (1959-1960), Wagon Train (1961) and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966-1967).

Mitchell Leisen married opera singer Stella Yeager, known professionally as Sandra Gahle, in 1927, though the couple lived separately for much of their marriage and remained in contact over the years. Leisen had long-term relationships with both women and men, reflecting a bisexual orientation that was largely private during his lifetime. One of his most significant relationships was with costume designer Natalie Visart, with whom he shared a close personal and professional bond. He also had a very long relationship with dancer/actor/choreographer Billy Daniel until the 1950s. In 1960, Leisen was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died of heart disease in 1972 in Woodland Hills, California, aged 74. His grave is located in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory. David Melville at Senses of Cinema: "When Mitchell Leisen died at the Motion Picture Country Home in 1972, both he and his films were largely forgotten. One of a host of old-style Hollywood directors who had not been rediscovered, re-interpreted or (in some cases) recreated as an auteur by Cahiers du cinéma, Leisen was remembered – grudgingly – as a minor artisan. A dress-designer who turned director, fashioning a string of campy gossamer romances for the lesser Great Ladies of Tinsel Town." This section at Il Cinema Ritrovato offers a new chance to rediscover his work. Melville: "Such re-evaluation is long overdue, yet it still falls short of the whole story. It overlooks, for a start, Leisen’s bold and flamboyant exploration of the world of dreams. A homosexual artist in a homophobic era and industry, Leisen sought solace (and perhaps a cure) in the arms of Freudian psychoanalysis. As his profile rose – and his relationship with dancer-choreographer Billy Daniels became an open secret – Leisen put his psychoanalytical quest onto film. His wild dream sequences in No Time for Love (1943), Lady in the Dark (1944), and Dream Girl (1948) are as close to the avant-garde as 1940s Hollywood could allow."


British postcard in the Film Partners Series, London, no. P 134. Photo: Paramount. Sylvia Sidney and Gene Raymond in Behold My Wife! (Mitchell Leisen, 1934).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9244/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Paramount. Sylvia Sidney and Gene Raymond in Behold My Wife! (Mitchell Leisen, 1934).


Italian postcard by B.F.F., Firenze, no. 2044. Photo: Paramount Films. Joan Fontaine in Frenchman’s Creek (Mitchell Leisen, 1944). Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


Belgian postcard, no. 980. Photo: Paramount. Paulette Goddard in Kitty (Mitchell Leisen, 1945).


Spanish card by I.P. y papeleria Machi Benifayo. Photo: Paramount. Marlene Dietrich and Ray Milland in Golden Earrings (Mitchell Leisen, 1947). Spanish title: En las rayas de la mano. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. W 252. Photo: Paramount. Betty Hutton in Dream Girl (Mitchell Leisen, 1948).

Sources: David Melville (Senses of Cinema), Britannica, Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

Quo vadis? (1913)

Within the framework of the British research project Museum of Dream Worlds, EFSP collaborator Ivo Blom co-organises two workshops at Il Cinema Ritrovato 2026. The First workshop was dedicated to unique prints of silent films on Greco-Roman antiquity in the collection of the British Film Institute. Today is the second workshop, which focuses on the new restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna of Enrico Guazzoni's Quo vadis? (1913), starring Amleto Novelli and Gustavo Serena. The film will be shown tomorrow. All the postcards of this colossal epic in this post are from Ivo's collection.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The winner of the chariot race.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: "Ave Caesar, those who are about to die salute you." This image cites a famous 19th-century painting (1859) by Jean-Léon Gérôme. It was often quoted, also in the Asterix comics.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The fight of the gladiators in the arena.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The death of the gladiator. This image cites Jean-Léon Gérôme's famous painting Pollice verso (Thumbs down, 1872) and was often used in publicity for the film. In the back, the emperor Nero (Carlo Cattaneo) makes the sign of thumbs down, a sign for the conqueror to kill his adversary. Flanking Nero are left Tigellinus (Cesare Moltroni) and right Petronius (Gustavo Serena). Left of the imperial box, the Vestal Virgins are seated.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The wild animals are destined to tear the Christians to pieces. The lion keepers activate the lions under the circus before sending them above ground.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Scene from Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The Christians were exposed to the beasts at the circus.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The last prayer. This scene quotes Jean-Léon Gérôme's painting The Christian Martyrs' Last Prayer (1863-1883).


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The Christians in the circus, while the hungry lions approach.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). The beasts have committed the massacre of the Christians.

Where are you going?

Quo vadis? is Latin for 'Where are you going?' and alludes to the apocryphal acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he is going to Rome. Jesus says, "I am going back to be crucified again", which makes Peter go back to Rome and accept martyrdom.

Quo vadis? written by Henryk Sienkiewicz tells the love story between a young and beautiful Christian woman, Lygia, and a military tribune and Roman patrician, Marcus Vinicius. The story takes place in the city of Rome under Emperor Nero, around AD 64.

Published in instalments in three Polish dailies in 1895, Quo vadis? came out in book form in 1896 and has since been translated into more than 50 languages. This novel contributed to Sienkiewicz's Nobel Prize for literature in 1905.

In 1901, Pathé Frères produced the first screen version, Quo vadis? (Lucien Nonguet, Ferdinand Zecca, 1901). It is only 65 meters long (duration: about three minutes) and was restored by the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) in Paris.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Gustavo Serena as Petronius Arbiter and Amleto Novelli as Marcus Vinicius. Caption: Vinicius tells Petronius of his acts. Vinicius started to talk about the war (Chapter I).


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The litter of Petronius. In front of Nero's palace, Petronius (Gustavo Serena) says goodbye to his cousin Vinicius (Amleto Novelli) and promises to have a good word to Nero about Vinicius getting Lygia.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: Vinicius (Amleto Novelli) is presented to Nero (Carlo Cattaneo). Behind Nero stands Petronius (Gustavo Serena).


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). A Roman banquet. In the front, Lea Giunchi as Lygia and Amleto Novelli as Vinicius.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: A banquet on the Palatine. The fat and drunken man in front is Giuseppe Gambardella (Vitellius), who was also famous as Checco in short Italian comedies.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Helped by Acte, Nero's former mistress, Ursus (Bruto Castellani) subtracts Lygia (Lea Giunchi) from the orgy of the imperial banquet, where the drunken Roman Vinicius tries to rape her.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The devotion of the slave Eunice (Amelia Cattaneo) to Petronius (Gustavo Serena).

A colossal epic

More than ten years after Quo vadis? (Lucien Nonguet, Ferdinand Zecca, 1901), Italian director Enrico Guazzoni made a colossal epic for the Cines studio, starring Amleto Novelli and Gustavo Serena. He masterfully combined huge spectacle with intimate scenes.

In 1913, Guazzoni's Quo vadis? premiered, and the results at the box office quickly proved it a smashing success. Wikipedia: "It was arguably the first blockbuster in the history of cinema, with 5,000 extras, lavish sets, and a running time of two hours, setting the standard for 'superspectacles' for decades to come"

Throughout the world, Quo vadis? became popular not only among readers but also among fans of the new phenomenon, cinema. The film influenced Giovanni Pastrone's Cabiria (1914) and D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916).

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Quo Vadis? is nonetheless an important milestone in movie history. The film ran 12 reels (approximately three hours) at a time when most American productions were still within the 1- to 4-reel length. American film distributor George Kleine pared the film down to 8 reels for US distribution, but this still was an uncommonly long production for its day."

In 1997, the film was photochemically restored by Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, but today, a new, digital restoration by the Cineteca di Bologna will be screened. This version contains a reconstruction of the original Italian intertitles.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: Ursus (Bruto Castellani) and Chilo Chilonides (Augusto Mastripietri).


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Chilo (Augusto Mastripietri) sweet-talks to Ursus (Bruto Castellani) to find out where Lygia is hidden. Caption: Chilo talks to Ursus about the traitors of the Christians. (Ursus:) Go to the Christians, go to their godhouses and ask for the brothers of Glaucus. (Chapter XVII of the book).


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Vinicius (Amleto Novelli) finds Lygia (Lea Giunchi) at the catacombs of Ostriano. Left of Lygia is St. Peter (Giovanni Gizzi), right of her, her protector, Ursus (Bruto Castellani). Vinicius plots to abduct Lygia, with the help of the Greek Chilo (Augusto Mastripietri) and a gladiator.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The apostle Peter (Giovanni Gizzi) preaching to the Christians in the catacombs.


Italian postcard by Uff.Rev. St. Terni. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Lygia (Lea Giunchi) saves Vinicius (Amleto Novelli) from the hands of Ursus (Bruto Castellani). Ursus, protector of Lygia, has just killed a gladiator who had been charged by Vinicius to kill Ursus while he planned to abduct Lygia.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The fire of Rome.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). The Giant Ursus (Bruto Castellani) awaits the bull in the circus. After his long captivity, Ursus is almost blinded when he enters the arena. Then a wild bull enters the arena, on whose back Lygia is bound. Ursus will kill the bull with his bare hands, much to the delight of the audience and the emperor.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Ursus (Bruto Castellani) and Vinicius (Amleto Novelli) implore the audience and Emperor Nero to grace the Christian Lygia (Lea Giunchi), after Ursus has killed the bull on whose back Lygia had been bound. The audience raves because of Ursus' tour de force. Vinicius has stripped his clothes to show his scars from the wars, while Ursus holds up Lygia. All people around Nero hold their thumbs up for grace, even if this sign seems to have been a 19th-century invention and is historically incorrect.


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: Chilo (Augusto Mastripietri) is baptised by the apostle Paul (of Tarsus). Chilon! I baptise you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen! (Chapter LXI of the book).


Italian postcard. Photo: Cines. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: The historical death of Petronius (Gustavo Serena) and Eunice (Amelia Cattaneo). "Friends, confess that with us perishes..." (Chapter LXXIII).


British postcard by J.F. Grimm & Co., London F.C. Photo: Cines. Amleto Novelli in Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913).


British postcard by J.F. Grimm & Co., London FC. Photo: Cines. Amleto Novelli as Vinicius visiting his uncle Petronius (Gustavo Serena) and telling him about his discovery of Lygia, at the start of Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913).


British postcard by J.F. Grimm & Co., London F.C. Photo: Cines. Scene from Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913). Caption: Watching the massacre of the Christians. Nero (Carlo Cattaneo) is instead watching Petronius (Gustavo Serena) and asking him what he thinks of the spectacle. "It is worthy of you", the latter responds.


Belgian postcard by Ed. A. Deloga, Bruxelles. Photo: Cines. On 18 July 191?/192? (exact year unknown), the Brussels cinema Majestic, 62, Boulevard du Nord (now Boulevard Adolphe Max), re-released the Italian silent epic Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913) because, as the postcard says, of general demand. The film took 2 hours, which was quite long for those years, and was shown integrally, with a new musical score. Quo vadis? was so popular that it had many relaunches, all through the silent era. The still depicted is a citation from Jean-Léon Gérôme's well-known painting 'The Christian Martyr's Last Prayers' (1883). It was recycled in the publicity for the film, on posters, in brochures and in advertisements in magazines.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Wikipedia and IMDb.