The House is Serious
The House Is Serious (La Casa es Seria) is a musical short film directed by Lucien Jaquelux (credited as Jaquelux), which belongs to a series of French films about Argentinian tango singer Carlos Gardel made by Paramount Pictures in its French studio Joinville-him-Pont. The film stars Gardel, and Argentinian-Spanish actress Imperio Argentina. The script was written by the Brazilian Alfredo Le Pera. Gardel sings two songs with Le Pera, Memory malevo and Want to me, the latter of which was never recorded on film.
| The House Is Serious | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Lucien Jaquelux |
| Produced by | Alfredo Le Pera |
| Starring | Carlos Gardel |
| Music by | Carlos Gardel Marcel Lattès |
Running time | 25 minutes |
| Countries | Argentina, France |
| Language | Spanish |
It premiered on 19 May 1933 in the Cinema Suipacha of Buenos Aires. All the copies of the film have been lost, including the originals that were destroyed in 1940 during the Second World War when the German troops bombed Paramount's studiosin Joinville. Only its audio has survived, recorded in Vitaphone disks.
Context
In 1931, Carlos Gardel was hired by American company Paramount to make his first sound motion picture, Lights of Buenos Aires. The film was made at Paramount's studio in Joinville-him-Pont, 40 kilometers southwest of the French capital, devoted to producing films for the non-American markets. The following year, however, the French wing of Paramount found itself in full crisis, in the context of the world-wide depression and a difficult political climate a few months before Hitler took power in Germany.
In spite of this, after the first half of 1932 had gone by without news and Gardel went back to Buenos Aires, the company decided to make more new films with the Argentinian singer. Within this larger project, the feature film Wait for Me was filmed in September 1932 with French director Louis Gasnier assigned to the project and an adapted American script.[1]
Immediately after the filming of Wait for Me ended, Paramount summoned the French director Lucien Jaquelux and the Argentinian-Spanish actress Imperio Argentina to make the short film titled The House Is Serious. The studio arranged for Alfredo Le Pera to write the script and collaborate with Carlos Gardel on the music and lyrics. Filming took place in October 1932.
Once the short film was finished, Paramount filmed Suburban Melody, Gardel's third French feature film.
Distribution
- Carlos Gardel.
- Imperio Argentina.
- Lolita Benavente.
- Josita Hernán.
- Manuel Paris.
References
- Barsky, Osvaldo; Barsky, Julián (2004). Gardel, la biografía. Buenos Aires: Taurus. pp. 535–550. ISBN 9870400132.
External links
- The Lights of Buenos Aires. It see the film gratuitamente. Feature film in black and white.
- Synthesis of the life of Carlos Gardel.