Empire alone cannot contain the range of the exoticist imaginary in French fiction cinema of the 1930s. Rogues, Romance, and Exoticism in French Cinema of the 1930s proposes a critical framework for exoticist cinema that subsumes and exceeds colonial territory, analyzing the recurring figures, common settings, major stars, key plot devices, and narrative outcomes that dominated exoticist cinema at its popular peak.

Colleen Kennedy-Karpat received her PhD in French from Rutgers University and currently teaches film studies at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Exoticism in 1930s France: The Colonial and Beyond
PART ONE: Men Outside the Mainstream
Chapter 1: Jean Gabin, le cafard, and Western Solidarity
La Bandera (1935): Cultural Cohesion and Colonial Mercenaries
Pépé le Moko (1937) and the Multiethnic Exotic
Le Messager (1937): Failure to Adapt
Chapter 2: Assimilation Anxiety and Rogue Colons
Men Who Stayed Too Long
El Guelmouna, marchand de sable (1931): Rivalry (and Russians) in Rural Algeria
Amok (1934): Cultural Readmission at All Costs
L'Esclave blanc (1936): Segregationist Parable
PART TWO: Romancing the Exotic
Chapter 3: Tragedy and Triumph for Interracial Love
Caïn, aventure des mers exotiques (1930) and Baroud (1932): Lasting Love in the Colonies
Le Simoun (1933) and Yamilé sous les cèdres (1939): Triumph, Tragedy, Responsibility
Women's Agency and Exoticist Romance

Chapter 4: Métissage and Cultural Repatriation
La Dame de Malacca (1937): European Frog, Exotic Prince
(Re)claiming French Identity in La Maison du Maltais (1938)
L'Esclave blanche (1939): A Westerner in the Harem
Redefining Exoticist Romance
PART THREE: France Imagines the Far East
Chapter 5: Shanghai Fantasies and the Geishas of Joinville
Mollenard (1938) and Le Drame de Shanghaï (1938): Exiled in (and from) the East
Yoshiwara (1936) and La Bataille (1934): Lovers and Fighters in the Land of the Rising Sun
Chapter 6: Sessue Hayakawa's French Resurrection, 1936-1939
Forfaiture (1937): A Legend Revised, a Legacy Reborn
Patrouille blanche (1939/1942): Bringing the Other Back Home
Macao, l'enfer du jeu (1939/1942): The Exotic Father
Exoticism in Transition
L'Homme du Niger (1940): Patriotism and Paternalism in Africa
Malaria (1943): Imperial Stasis
Descendants of Interwar Exoticism from Decolonization to the New Century
Annotated Filmography
Bibliography
Index