Product description

Les Vacances de M. Hulot [1953]

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Average customer rating: 4.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5035673006023
Label : Bfi Video
Manufacturer : Bfi Video
Publisher : Bfi Video
Release date : 2004-11-29
Title : Les Vacances de M. Hulot [1953]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Universal, suitable for all
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1953-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 84
Studio : Bfi Video
Theatrical releaseDate : 1954-06-16
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Forefather of Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean, Jacques Tati's Monsieur Hulot--a recurring character in several of his movies--is a blithely clumsy troublemaker, an insouciant twit who leaves uproar in his wake without being aware of it. Trying to describe this 1953 comedy is next to impossible except to say it is a series of vignettes at a vacation resort, with the distracted Hulot providing a lot of laughs. Tati directs, and in a way what that really means is that he composes this movie with a perfect eye and ear for the comic possibilities in everything: composition, lighting, minimal marble-mouth dialogue, certain sounds (a duck call, a door repeatedly opening and shutting). This is a superior work that ranks among all-time classic comedies. --Tom Keogh

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-08-22 rating:

Near comic masterpiece by Tati
If not Tati's best film (that honor would probably go to Mon Oncle), this 1953 effort is certainly his funniest, as Mr. Hulot's (Tati) presence in a French resort provokes one disaster after another. The movie is deliberately paced, with little dialogue and full of gentle humor. In fact, the film's innocence would be very hard to recreate today (the movie looks irresistibly nostalgic now, as it evokes a certain time and period that no longer exists). You might think that this is not a recipe for an uproariously funny comedy, but despite that, you just can't stop laughing at Tati's very elaborate set pieces. It's a huge improvement over Tati's previous film, the somewhat overrated Jour de Fete.

review by: date: 2008-05-20 rating:

An aquired taste
Having never seen a Tati film in my 40 something years, I was probably expecting too much from this 1950's French comedy. It certainly has its merits. There are some lovely visual gags, which are very clever and funny as well, together with a set of characters who develop with the film.

I found that at 83mins it dragged a bit and whilst the jazzy music theme was great the first time I heard it, after the theme had been repeated about a dozen times it began to get on my nerves. Tati himself was undoubtably a talented visual comedian, and if he had been working 30 years earlier, before the introduction of sound would probably have been a bigger star. If I had seen this film when I was very young I'm sure that it would have made a lasting impression on me (like Laurel & Hardy) and I would have rated it much higher.

As it is, I probably need to see it again to fully appreciate it. Then it may get four stars.

review by: manfromsurrey date: 2008-02-15 rating:

A little gem!
Some say that for humour to be good, it has to be well observed and gentle. Modern comedy could learn a lot from this film. It is quite simply the best that Jacques Tati did. His other work was never as good as this. His walk used to make my parents roar with laughter and the scenes at the railway station are wonderful.So wonderful that my father could recall several similar scenes in real life! Hulot's car is of course is a star in its own right.In the same way as that of a circus clown. The English couple are played to perfection too,typical of the adventurous English couple who might have journeyed to France in those days? Probably as most English people would have been scared of staying in a low budget French Hotel in those days. The squeaky door is also wonderful. Of course the simple notion of holidays in those days would be a different world for us today. We live in fast paced times and have much more complex lives. Perhaps then that is why this is still so good, transporting us back to a different age, and reminding us that holidays could be simple. What a joy this little gem is!

review by: Steve The BlackFerret date: 2008-01-15 rating:

Thank goodness-it's the original!
The best thing-this is the original FRENCH print. Not a bad idea, because many Gallic nuances went out the window when the background radio prigrammes were dubbed into an Ersatz Third Programme and the archetypical can't-relax-for-a-moment businessman who's ALWAYS wanted on the phone becomes Herr Schmidt and not the transatlantic Mr Smith!

The full, original soundtrack is also here-or at least a serial number of varations of Alain Roman's theme are-that WAS the original soundtrack! Who cares-it's such a lovely tune, in total keeping with the entire ambience of the movie.

M. Hulot also almost manages to charm the lovely young French lady in the movie. No mean feat, considering he's the living incarnation of how ex-President Gerald Ford was described 20+ years later-unable to chew gum & fart at the same time; using the phrase"accident-prone" about M.Hulot is the understatement of the last millenia & possibly of this one,too!

You also have the strange feeling that every one of the fellow holiday-makers, or the staff at L'Hotel Du Plage, will think back, in the coming winter, to their quinzieme en vacance avec M Hulot. And you also know, every one of them will be wishing, secretly or openly, that they'll soon both be hearing the sewing-machine-on-wheels and also seeing the hen-house-on-wheels as M. Hulot's 1924 Amilcar hoves into view next summer!

I won't bother detailing how the movie evolves. It's just unlike any other, even other Jacques Tati's. Let me just assure you it's not only the best film ever made, it's also still screamingly funny throughout & remains so after many,many viewings!

review by: date: 2007-12-08 rating:

Classic film
I remember seeing this film at the local cinema and I have never laughed so much in my life--in fact the whole audience was in hysterics for most of the film as if the slightest comic action by M Hulot sent everyone off again in uncontrollable shrieks of laughter --I have never laughed so much since!!! An all time classic

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