Review of Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953) by Andrew R — 02 Jan 2012

I had viewed Jacques Tati's "Play Time" a couple of weeks ago and thought the film was one of best films of the 1960's. His earlier predecessor, in which his title character, played by Tati, has his name in the film, is a shockingly funny gem.

In this film, Mr. Hulot takes a trip to a small coastal town and inadvertently gets into several minor situations, surprisingly only coming out with a bandage on his nose. Considering the circumstances, he should have been in a body cast.

As comedies from the 1950's go, this may be the best comedy from the decade where dramas, westerns, and mystery and suspense films dominate the great ones. It has aged incredibly well. The film contains one well calculated, clever scene after another, with refreshingly humourous results.

The characters, stemming from Hulot to other citizens, are charming. The on location filming in small town for which was Saint-Marc-sur-Mar is beautiful, which makes the viewing in some way very life like.

The jazz score adds to the greatness of this movie. One can tell that this film inspired the English comedy "Mr. Bean," and even though the latter is funny, this is much more original and fun to watch.

Favourite scene: the opening where people are rushing from one platform to the other while an incoherent speaker announces the train's arrival zone.