''Le pompier des Folies Bergères'' (''The fireman of the Folies Bergères''), also known as ''Un pompier qui prend feu'' (''A fireman catches fire'') and ''Les Hallucinations d'un pompier'' (''The hallucinations of a fireman'') is a 1928 French

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...

featuring

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

. The director is unknown. The film is about seven-and-a-half minutes long. The film was produced in 1927 and released in 1928. The storyline involves the erotic fantasies of a fireman, and includes elements from Baker's

Folies Bergère The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trév ...

performance entitled "Un Vent desfolies at the Folies-Bergere." The fireman, inspired by seeing the Folies Bergère, imagines that people that he encounters are naked women. Baker appears in two scenes as subway driver who transforms into a "scantily dressed ... unnamed, seductive showgirl" in part of the fireman's fantasies, and dances the

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

in one scene. Terri Francis, a cinema and media studies academic, notes that there are several contrasts in the film between a number of white women who appear nude, in immobile posed groups, and Baker, who is dressed, dances, and appears individually. Sociologist Bennetta Jules-Rosette wrote in 2007 that "Although this film would be considered softcore pornography today, it is difficult to determine the extent of its distribution and the responses of its audience when it was released in 1928." The

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

has a video copy of the film.

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1928 films French black-and-white films French pornographic films 1920s French films {{1920s-France-film-stub