JOUR DE FETE (1949)

Cast

Plot

A simple minded village postman sees a film on the efficiency of the American postal system and as a result tries to smarten up his act. The first, and some reckon the best, of Tati's comedies. Great slapstick humour and an earthy evocation of rural France. Jour de Fete was originally filmed in Thomson-color, a process that became extinct before prints of the film could be shown. Consequently early versions of the film were in black and white, a version that was filmed simultaneously as a precaution, in case the color process was not perfect. In the late '80s the colour copy was restored and published by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff, and cinematographer François Ede.