Laserdisc Title: "MR. HULOT'S HOLIDAY (1953)"
Edition: The Criterion Collection (Double-Disc Set)
Directed By: Jacques Tati
Starring: Jacques Tati, Nathalie Pascaud, Michelle Rolla, Valentine Camax, Louis Perrault, Andre Dubois, Lucien Fregis, Raymond Carl
Production / Year: 1953 Cady Film / Discina Film Renewed New Version Nono Mellesena Del Monaco 1977
Running Time: 86 Minutes / Black & White
Audio Format: Monaural
Video Format: NTSC, CAV (Standard Play Full Feature Format)
Miscellaneous Features: Not Rated
Distributed By: The Voyager Company (First Printing 1987)
Catalog / Spine Number: CC2229L (Spine Number 21)

IMPORTANT: This is a 12-inch Diameter Laserdisc, which is NOT the same as DVD and cannot be played on a DVD player!

Cosmetic Condition:
Disc (s): Very Good - Few very light to very minor hairline surface swirls or very light fingerprint marks
Jacket: Very Good - Normal shelf wear, few creases, light scuffs, slightly worn-out corners or edges but no signs of spines splitting

Synopsis:

Pipe-smoking Monsieur Hulot, Jacques Tati's endearing clown, takes a holiday at a seaside resort where his presence provokes one catastrophe after another. Tati's wildly funny satire of vacationers determined to enjoy themselves includes a series of precisely choreographed sight gags involving dogs, boats and firecrackers. The first entry in the Hulot series is a masterpiece of gentle slapstick.

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.

M. Hulot's Holiday really is a beautiful film. The photography is very nice and does a wonderful job at creating the seaside vacation atmosphere. The M. Hulot character is exceptionally relatable; he is trying his best to have a relaxing vacation by the sea but bumbles around in his efforts to enjoy himself thoroughly. The people around him are similarly good-natured vacationers but are eager to stomp on his futile efforts at enjoying himself when they interfere with him. In some ways this movie is kind of sad because of M. Hulot's situation, however, but somehow at the end of the movie we feel as if we've been on an enjoyable summer trip.

The true nature of this film's appeal is those moments of awkward disappointment. However, don't get the impression this film is depressing or a sad story, quite the contrary. We can look back on the vacation with a smile and overall counteracting those disappointing moments. Keep in mind the words I have put in this review don't really sum up these characteristic bumbling Mr. Hulot moments, they are funny, charming and good-natured.

THIS IS NOT A DVD!!! THIS IS A 12" LASERDISC AND WILL NOT PLAY IN A DVD PLAYER

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