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Tamango
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Wikipedia article
'Tamango' is a 1958 French/Italian film directed by John Berry, a black-listed American director who exiled himself to Europe. Dorothy Dandridge and Curd Jrgens (billed as: 'Curt Jurgens') star in the film with co-stars Alex Cressan and Jean Servais.
Based on the short story by Prosper Mrime first published in 1829,Miller, page 180 the film is about a slave ship on its crossing from Africa to Cuba, the various people it carries and the slaves' rebellion while on board.
Plot
Captain Reiker (Curt Jrgens), a Dutch sea captain, sets off on what he intends to be his last slave-ship voyage. After capturing slaves with the complicity of an African chief (Habib Benglia), he then starts his voyage for Cuba. Along with the slaves below-deck, the passengers include his mistress, the slave Aich (Dorothy Dandridge), and the ship's doctor, Doctor Corot (Jean Servais). Tamango (Alex Cressan), one of the captured men, plans a revolt and tries to persuade Aich to join him and the other slaves. When the captured slaves do rebel, Tamango manages to hold Aich hostage. A deadlock between the two sides then develops and Captain Renker states he will fire a cannon into the ships hold and kill all the slaves unless they give up. Aich is given a chance to leave by Tamango but after looking up the ladder that leads out of the hold (and towards life), chooses to stay with her fellow slaves. The captain makes good on his threat and shoots the cannon into the hold, literally silencing the slaves' songs.Miller, pages 224, 231, 233
Controversies
The film was controversial in different parts of the world. Even though the project was filmed in the French city Nice,Miller, page 226 France banned 'Tamango' in its West African colonies "for fear it would cause dissent among the natives".Hayward, page 211 The film was released in 1959 in New York City,[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051049/releaseinfo Release Dates] but didn't receive nationwide distribution until 1962. The film was not released widely in the United States because it broke the race-mixing (or "miscegenation") sectionHayward, page 210 of the Hays Code with the interracial love scenes between Dorothy Dandridge and Curt Jrgens.
Cast
*Dorothy Dandridge as Aich, Reiker's mistress
*Curd Jrgens as Captain John Reiker
*Jean Servais as Doctor Corot
*Alex Cressan as Tamango
*Roger Hanin as 1st Mate Bebe
*Guy Mairesse as Werner
*Clment Harari as Cook
*Doudou Babet as Chadi
*Habib Benglia as Le chef noir
*Pierre Rosso as the diving sailor
See also
*List of films featuring slavery
References
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