A smoking Punu mask in “Ball im Savoy” (1935)

January 15, 2018
A smoking Punu mask in “Ball im Savoy” (1935)

A very nice discovery by Ingo Barlovic, the man behind the About-Africa website: the 1935 Austrian movie Ball im Savoy, based on an opera by Paul Abraham, contains a funny little scene with a Punu mask. While in previous scenes an actual mask was hanging on the wall, here it appears to be replaced by a woman made up like such a mask, including the typical scarification patterns on the temples and forehead. It’s very well done I must say; see the full scene below (starts at the right moment):

 

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Bruno Claessens

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