Zouzou (1934) review

A laundry girl with a wonderful voice (American ex-pat Josephine Baker) is not-so-secretly in love with the sailor (ever dependable Jean Gabin) she grew up with, but he's got his eyes on a blonde (oh, those meddling blondes!). While it may be 'familiar territory' (per Maltin's Guide) and a little clumsy in construction with all the drama is packed into the third act - Baker and Gabin's adoptive father dies, Gabin gets arrested (for a crime he didn't commit - it was the man without a finger!) and freed and Baker rises to fame with her surreal stage show (where the caged bird sings ... literally) - seeing Baker's infectious energy on screen is hard to forget: she's like an empowered, highly sexualized, exotic Olive Oyl. For being a film in the early 30's, there appear to be an awful lot of barely covered breasts in this ... and I, for one, am not complaining (we could have used more topless Donna Reed, in my very tasteless opinion).