Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (aka Mr.
Hulot’s Holiday/1953) + Play Time
(aka PlayTime aka Playtime/1967/BFI Blu-ray/DVD Dual
Format Edition Sets)
Picture:
B/B+ Sound: B- & C+/B &
C+ Extras: B-/B Films: B/A
PLEASE NOTE: These Blu-rays are Region B and
DVDs are Region 2/PAL format, so both can only be operated on machines capable
of playing back Blu-rays in the Region B or Region Zero/0/Free and DVDs only be
played on Region Zero/0/Free PAL or Region 2/PAL capable players. Both Blu-ray/DVD sets can be ordered from our
friends at BFI in the U.K.
at the website addresses provided at the end of the review.
In his
great, underrated filmmaking career, Jacques Tati proved to often be a genius
and for five films in a row, played the legendary, classic character Monsieur
Hulot whose antics bridge the long great road of silent comedy between Charlie
Chaplin’s Little Tramp and Rowan Atkins’ Mr. Bean. BFI now joins Criterion in releasing Tati’s
1967 masterwork PlayTime (the 4th
of the 5 Hulot films) on Blu-ray and beats everyone in issuing the debut Mr.
Hulot film on Blu-ray: Les Vacances de
Monsieur Hulot (aka Mr. Hulot’s
Holiday from 1953.
Tati was
a comic genius, understood people, life and was a top rate mime in real
life. Hulot was only his second-ever feature film and it was an
international hit, featuring the character going on vacation at a hotel in a
small coastal section of France. Even driving through the town in his small
car (for which his tall self is just too tall for), he causes havoc without
trying and it only gets worse for all as he tries to enjoy himself by the
ocean. The culture clashes and subtle
subversions (including of the solemn and serious) stunned audiences and became
an all-time French comedy classic.
Seeing it looking and sounding this good brings back its freshness and
the comedy works better than it ever did because you get to really experience
it as first hand as possible. It just
gets better with age.
The
Blu-ray includes the original 1953 cut, while both format editions include his
1978 re-edit of the film and I like both.
As key as
that Hulot debut film is, my favorite Hulot film is the comedy epic PlayTime, which he shot in 65mm
negative for big-screen 70mm playback and funded the film himself
entirely. As noted, Criterion issued it
on Blu-ray and the two versions are very similar. You can read all about the film and that
version at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8975/Play+Time+(aka+PlayTime/1967/Criteri
The two
Blu-ray editions (For the record, Criterion’s is Region A only) are equal on a
playback level for the most part, but have some different extras and slight
technical differences. We’ll save most
of it for the technical section below, but video versions of the film in all
formats have either been on the blue or green side. On Blu-ray, Criterion’s version was a bit
blue, while BFI’s is a bit green. To
BFI’s advantage, this makes the greens look better and more naturalistic, plus
the picture looks slightly more naturalistic with a tad more detail than
Criterion’s, expect that it now seem too poor when it comes to the Blues. Why is this happening? Because both are from a 35mm reduction internegative
off of the 70mm restored print, so though they both look really good, they are
slightly compromised. As a big fan, I
now have tow ways to watch this masterpiece, so I will not complain. More on that in a moment.
The 1080p
1.33 X 1 black and white digital High Definition image on both cuts of Hulot on the Blu-ray is about as good
as we are ever going to see it, though the older version is a little weak since
the materials have not held up as well, but Video Black, Video White, contrast
and detail are impressive and it surpasses any copies I have ever seen of the
film before on DVD or VHS. The DVD
version is good for the format, but cannot reproduce the best shots on either
Blu-ray cut. Tati used two Directors of
Photography, Jacques Mercanton and Jean Mouselle, but the work is seamless and does
not show its age much in form either. The
PCM 2.0 48/24 Mono on Hulot is about
as good as this is going to ever sound, showing its age in both the French and
International soundtrack editions (the latter being updated for this release,
Christopher Lee was involved in some of the dubbing, apparently), but cleaned
up as well as possible without ruining the tracks with compression or other
issues. The music score by Alain Romans
is great, often the riot it is intended to be and when you add the clever sound
effects, you get one of the smartest monophonic sound mixes of the decade. The Dolby Digital 2.0 192 kbps Mono on the
DVD is also just fine and just surpasses all previous analog and lossless
presentations.
Extras in
Hulot include the original
theatrical trailer and a 36-minutes-long interview from 2004 with Director
Richard Lester (A Hard Day’s Night)
on the film and its influence on him, but these are only on the DVD
version. The booklet inside the case
includes technical information, cast/crew information, stills and two essays by
Philip Kemp: a Tati bio and smart piece on the film.
The 1080p
1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on PlayTime
is again the proper frame for a 35mm reduction of a 70mm (2.20 X 1) and better
than a 2.35 X 1 scope print. There are
still some limits as this is a reduction, but the film has been reconstructed
as much as possible, though it is nearly two hours and the original was 2.5 hours
at its longest. Still, it is a monumental
work and as visually stunning as anything being made today. To repeat, Tati also used to Directors of
Photography here, but they were not the same as Hulot, but were Jean Badal and Andréas Winding. Once you start watching, you cannot
stop. It is no secret that I did not
like either Criterion DVD of the film, so I was happy when the anamorphically
enhanced DVD version here was everything I had hoped for years ago (years
before any HD format) for the film, so fans will not be disappointed, though it
is no match for either Blu-ray edition. The
PCM French 2.0 48/24 Stereo and Dolby Digital International 2.0 192 kbps Stereo
tracks on PlayTime are exactly the
same as Criterion’s and sound just fine, though a multi-channel mix is
something I would like to hear (DTS restored the film’s sound in part). Both tracks on the DVD are also Dolby Digital
2.0 192 kbps Stereo.
Extras on
this PlayTime include a trailer, Au-dela de Playtime (2002/6 minutes)
look at the film, Script Girl
(2003/12 minutes) Sylvette Baudrot interview and Tati Story (2003/21 minutes) short biographic film on Tati, all on
the DVD only, while the Blu-ray adds an outstanding feature length audio
commentary track by Philip Kemp and both have a 1968 NFT audio interview with
Tati. The booklet inside the case
includes technical information, cast/crew information, stills, three pages from
the original French pressbook and three terrific essays: Playtime by David Furnham, Journey
To Tativille by Claire Clouzot and The
Most Incredible 90 Minutes by Kevin Brownlow.
To order,
go to each of the following links as labeled:
M. Hulot’s Holiday
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_18232.html
PlayTime
http://filmstore.bfi.org.uk/acatalog/info_18233.html
- Nicholas Sheffo
