Dionne Warwick at Cannes 1969 performing Slaves

[BachtoBacharach]

Dionne Warwick at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969 performing Slaves, the only time I believe she ever performed the movie theme to a live audience. The tune was released as the "B" side of the single "The April Fools"; in May 1969 "The April Fools" hit the top 40 and was one of the loveliest tunes Bacharach/David/Warwick ever recorded for a film. She starred in the movie Slaves released in late 1968 with Ossie Davis and Stephen Boyd and appeared in a controversial nude love scene with Boyd. The well-intentioned film directed by Herbert Biberman was critically panned but performed well at the box-office, partly due to the immense popularity of (according to one critic) the "busty and well built" Warwick and a chance to see her in the buff...nudity in "mainstream" films was, at the time, still a novelty and it was rare to see a top popular singer appear in the nude. The film, so far, is not available on DVD but was available in France on VHS in the early 1980s and was televised in a heavily edited version in the USA in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It has scarcely been seen since. Although Warwick received offers to act in film after "Slaves", she stated in several interviews that she would not do nude scenes. In a 1974 interview in Ebony she stated that she was offered many roles but would not remove her clothing for any role...guess she forgot (or hoped the public had forgotten) about her topless scenes in Slaves!

Here is the Cannes Clip:


Here is the original 1969 trailer for the movie Slaves: