''The House Is Serious (La Casa es Seria)'' is a picaresque musical short film directed by

Lucien Jaquelux Lucien Jaquelux (1894–1946) was a French set designer and film director.Rège p.529 He also worked as a painter and illustrator. He began his filmmaking career in the silent era. Selected filmography * ''The Nude Woman'' (1926) * '' Celle qui d ...

(credited as Jaquelux). It belongs to a series of French films starring

Argentinian Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or ( feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, ...

tango singer

Carlos Gardel Carlos Gardel (born Charles Romuald Gardès; 11 December 1890 – 24 June 1935) was a French-born Argentine singer, songwriter, composer and actor, and the most prominent figure in the history of tango. He was one of the most influential inte ...

and was made by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

in its French Joinville Studios at Joinville-him-Pont. The film features Gardel and co-stars the Argentinian-Spanish actress

Imperio Argentina María Magdalena Nile del Río (26 December 1906 – 22 August 2003) was an Argentine professional singer and movie actress, better known as Imperio Argentina; she became a citizen of Spain in 1999. María Magdalena Nile del Río was born ...

. The script was written by the Brazilian

Alfredo Le Pera Alfredo Le Pera (4 June 1900 – 24 June 1935) was an Argentine journalist, dramatist, and lyricist, best known for his brief but fruitful collaboration with the renowned tango singer Carlos Gardel. He died in a plane accident with Gardel whe ...

. Gardel sings two songs with Le Pera; ''Memory malevo'' and ''Want to me'', the latter having been recorded on a disc. It premiered on May 19, 1933, in the Suipacha Theater in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. All copies of the film have been lost. Only its audio has survived, which was recorded on

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

disks.(2020, Dec). Biografía y Cine De Carlos Gardel. (3ra. Parte). ''El Heraldo''.

Background

In 1931, Carlos Gardel had managed to get the American company

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

to hire him to perform in his first sound feature film, '' Lights of Buenos Aires.'' The film was made at Paramount's studio in Joinville-him-Pont, 40 kilometers southwest of the French capital. The studio was dedicated to producing films for non-American markets. The following year, however, Paramount France was in a crisis due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, and because of a tense political climate. These events taking place only a few months before Hitler took power in Germany. Even with this, and with

deciding to return to

, when the first semester of 1932 had already passed without incidents,

chose to move forward with new movies that included the Argentinian singer. Within the framework of this project, the first feature film of the series titled ''Wait for Me'' was filmed in September 1932. ''Wait for Me'' was directed by

Louis Gasnier Louis Joseph Gasnier (September 15, 1875 – February 15, 1963) was a French-American film director, producer, screenwriter and stage actor. A cinema pioneer, Gasnier shepherded the early career of comedian Max Linder, co-directed the enormously ...

using an adapted American script. Immediately after the filming of ''Wait for Me'' ended, Paramount chose the Argentine-Spanish actress

to produce ''

Suburban Melody ''Suburban Melody'' (Spanish: ''Melodía de arrabal'') is a 1933 American pre-Code musical film directed by Louis J. Gasnier and starring Imperio Argentina, Carlos Gardel and Vicente Padula. The film was made at the Joinville Studios in Pari ...

'' in November of 1932, and the short film titled ''The House Is Serious'' that was filmed in December 1932.Cabrera, M. (2021, Sep). Esperáme y Melodía de arrabal. Nueva cronología e información. En Museo del libro Gardel y su tiempo. ''WordPress.com''. That year the presence of the Brazilian Alfredo Le Pera, with whom Gardel had begun to build a rapport with in December of the previous year had become important. Le Pera assumed the duties of screenwriter for the films and lyricist of the songs whose melodies Gardel had composed. All of the copies of the film have been lost, including the originals that were destroyed in 1940 during the Second World War when German troops bombed the Paramount studios in Joinville. Only audio recordings on Vitaphone discs have survived.

Plot

Gardel plays Juan Carlos Romero, a tango singer who insists on conquering the ballerina Carmen Rivera, played by Imperio Argentina. The dancer rejected the singer's attempts to woo her over and over again, explaining to him that she was not "free", that she had a "very jealous" friend, and that she lived in a "serious house". Eventually, she finally gives in and agrees to receive Gardel at the house, at one in the morning, agreeing that when he whistles she would throw the keys to him so he could come in. Upon arrival, Gardel whistles, and several girls lean out and throw their keys. The film closes with Gardel saying: "And this is a serious house? My God!"

Cast

* Carlos Gardel. * Imperio Argentina. * Lolita Benavente. * Josita Hernán. * Manuel Paris.

References

External links

The Lights of Buenos Aires.
It see the film gratuitamente. Feature film in black and white.

{{DEFAULTSORT:house is serious 1933 films French musical films 1930s Spanish-language films 1933 musical films Argentine black-and-white films Argentine musical films Lost Argentine films Lost musical films 1933 lost films French short films Argentine short films Films directed by Lucien Jaquelux

Background

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links