Film Details

France’s great filmmaker and comic actor Jacques Tati is a perennial favorite at the Cinematheque. But before he made his hilarious features starring his bumbling alter ego Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, Mon Oncle, PlayTime, et al.), he acted in (and sometimes directed) short comedies. In this program we show four of them: Charles Barrois’ 23-min. On demande une brute (Wanted: A Brawny Wrestler, 1934), about wrestling; Jacques Berr and Tati’s 33-min. Gai dimanche (Lively Sunday, 1935), in which two bums spend a day in the country; René Clément’s 13-min. Soigne ton gauche (Watch Your Left, 1936), about boxing; and Tati’s 16-min. The School for Postmen (L'école des facteurs, 1947), a dry run for his manic first feature Jour de Fête (1949).