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(aka "Holiday" or "The Big Day" or "Tempo-Tempo" or "Giorno di festa" )

 

directed by Jacques Tati
France 1949

I had the opportunity to se the color version of this film for the first time. There is nothing in resent film history, that give me as much, as "Jour de fete". It's not simply a comedy from one of the genius in the film history - but much more. Today the prints condition is quite poor with vanishing colors of life and people in a small French village. Some directors need three hours of murders and death to make a similar kaleidoscope of life, but Tati manages in a very short time to paint a rich background for many individuals desires and dreams.

Tati shot this film in Thomson Color, and it was due to be the first color film in France. Because the process was experimental Tati made the shooting with two cameras, in the other he loaded a B&W safety copy. At the time they couldn't process the color material, and Tati released the B&W copy in 1949. However Tati was never really satisfied with the B&W version of the film. In 1964 he re-released a new version of it. He re-shot new material, with a painter coming to the village, and re-edited the film. Tati colored by hand himself many details in this version (flags etc), and it's the version most people have seen over the past. The new material was very skillfully edited, and it fit very well to the old material. When I say the new color version I can only say, that it is an entirely other movie! Many scenes are different, and the story with the painter no longer exists, and there are scenes in the color version that are missing from the B&W 1964 version.

Per-Olof Strandberg

Posters

Theatrical Release: May 4th, 1949

Reviews            More Reviews                 DVD Reviews

 Comparison:

Future Film - Region 2 - PAL vs. Future Films - Region 0 - PAL (black + white version)  vs. BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL vs. BFI (Dual Format) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Big thanks to Per-Olof Strandberg and for the DVD Screen Caps!

1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - RIGHT

 

Box Covers

 

 

 

Distribution

Future Film

Region 2 - PAL

Future Films
Region 0 - PAL
BFI
Region 2 - PAL
BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

The individual release is also available the BFI's The Jacques Tati Collection which includes Jour de fête / Les Vacances de M. Hulot / Mon Oncle / Playtime and Parade.

Runtime 1:16:33 (4% PAL Speedup) 1:15:47 (4% PAL Speedup) 1:16:45 (4% PAL Speedup) 1:19:57.709
Video

1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1.33:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.1 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 40,503,124,142 bytes

Feature: 20,004,968,448 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.53 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

Audio French (Dolby Digital 2.0)

French (Dolby Digital 2.0)

French (Dolby Digital 1.0)

LPCM Audio French 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and none Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and none English, None English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Future Film

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Jacques Tati short films:
• Soigne Ton Gauche (1936) (11:53)
• L'Ecole des Facteurs (1947) (14:25)
• Cours du Soir (1967) (26:30)
• Jacques Tati biography (9 page in English)

DVD Release Date:
Keep Case

Chapters 16

Release Information:
Studio: Future Film

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Jacques Tati short films:
• Soigne Ton Gauche (1936) (11:53)
• L'Ecole des Facteurs (1947) (14:25)
• Cours du Soir (1967) (26:30)
• Jacques Tati biography (9 page in English)

DVD Release Date:
Keep Case

Chapters 16  

Release Information:
Studio: BFI

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen - 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Original trailers for Les Vacances de M. Hulot, Mon Oncle and Playtime
• Insert with notes and director's biography by film historian Philip Kemp

DVD Release Date: November 29th, 2004
Keep Case (Individual Release)/Slim Case (Set Release)

Chapters 10

Release Information:
Studio: BFI

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

1080P Dual-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 40,503,124,142 bytes

Feature: 20,004,968,448 bytes

Video Bitrate: 29.53 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:
• Jour de fête (1964 version in 1080P)

ON DVD:
Soigne ton gauche (René Clément, 1936, 11:54): Tati stars as a farmhand in this boxing comedy.
L ecole des facteurs (Jacques Tati, 1947, 14:27): The first short directed by Tati which was later expanded to become Jour de fête.
Cours de soir (Nicholas Ribowski, 1967, 26:34): Tati stars as a teacher of mine in an evening class.
Jour de fête trailer


16-page illustrated booklet with film notes and credits.

Blu-ray Release Date: October 29th, 2012
Transparent Blu-ray case

Chapters 10

 

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc.

 

NOTE: Criterion's Complete Jacques Tati Blu-ray Collection is compared/reviewed HERE!

 

ADDITION: BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray (October 2012): Quite the package from the BFI. It has both the original and the 1964 version in 1080P plus a DVD with the two version and some great supplements. Both are brighter with more detail and we'll assume the colors are better represented. There is more information in the frame but there are segments where we see a vertical striation that I will investigate further. I don't know if it is an issue with the transfer or not. It is less noticeable in-motion but stay tuned for further information. Generally, the visuals tighten. Audio is lossless with optional subtitles but still has imperfections in the sound quality. The Blu-ray disc is dual-layered with a strong bitrate and despite its meager appearance - we presume it is the best the film will look digitally-speaking.

 

The image quality on the included DVD is obviously inferior but the extras are a super addition. We get Soigne ton gauche (René Clément, 1936, 11:54) - it's a boxing comedy where Tati stars as a farmhand. L'ecole des facteurs (Jacques Tati, 1947, 14:27) is the first short directed by Tati which was later expanded to become Jour de fête. Cours de soir (Nicholas Ribowski, 1967, 26:34) has Tati starring as a teacher and the disc also has a Jour de fête trailer. There is a 16-page illustrated booklet with film notes and credits.

 

Pending my investigations of the striation issue - this release has some impressive value that Tati fans won't want to pass up this Blu-ray.

 

NOTE: Pablo says in email: "I'm pretty sure that the vertical striation you mention in your review comes from the Thomsoncolor process. When one looks at the original camera film (which, by the way, came out as a positive), it looks as if it was black and white. The striations are small vertical color filters contained in each frame, which, when the light goes through the film in a certain angle, provide the colours." (thanks Pablo!)

 

Michael says "Your eyes aren't deceiving you about the 'vertical striation' in 'Jour de Fête', but I suspected when I read that that it was an unremovable by-product of the Thomson-Color process, and this has just been confirmed to me by someone who actually worked on the transfer.
It's a bit like the situation with the Dufaycolor films on the first Humphrey Jennings volume - they look great on DVD, but when upped to HD there's a very noticeable texturing, which is impossible to remove because it's part of the way the colour process works. Indeed, it's one of the reasons why systems like Dufaycolor and Thomson-color never caught on, as the effect was just as obvious in 35mm. So all the BFI can usefully do is render what's on the film as accurately as possibl
e." (Thanks Michael!)
 

 - Gary Tooze

***

Addition: The 2004 BFI edition of Jour de fete has recently been rereleased as part of their Jacques Tati Collection along with Jour de fête / Les Vacances de M. Hulot / Mon Oncle / Playtime and Parade. The only changes that the BFI made with this version is the keep case has been turned into a slim case and the individual booklets have been collected into one and some new artwork added to it. The image is pretty much the same as the color Future Films release (the black and white version is not included here), but there is an occasional black line on the far left of the screen that can be seen in a few of the captures. Although the audio here is Dolby Digital 1.0, rather than the 2.0 found in the Future Films release, I doubt that the former sounds significantly better as the audio here is typically quite good. For those looking for English subtitles, you won't find them on this Finish release, but they are the only subs to be found in the BFI edition. The real difference between the two releases comes in terms of the extras. While we get three Tati shorts from the Future release, the BFI has trailers for Tati's next three films and a typically invaluable booklet. Ultimately, I doubt that you could go wrong with purchasing either set. I suppose that the choice ultimately will come down to whether you need the English subs on the BFI release, the sum total of extras on both sets (mighty impressive for both, I might add!), what you'd prefer for your fifth film (the BFI has Parade, while the Future Films release has Trafic). Definitely recommended.

 - Brian Montgomery

 

NOTE: Until Sophie Tatischeff's and François Ede's color restoration of "Jour de fête", the film existed only in black and white. A few details, such as banners and lanterns, were colored personally by Jacques Tati. This is the version in question. Due to the poor availability of material, some defects do exits in this version, and we ask you to accept our apologies for such. In spite of that this version is part of the long history of "Jour de fête".

ON THE FUTURE FILM DVDs:

Picture:
I have no comparison whatsoever for this film! It's the first time I saw it, and the only material I have is this DVD. When Criterion comes with their print we can look at this again.
But this Nordic print I have looks fairly good. The image looks sharp. and similar to a film-copy. I'm very satisfied with it! The colors! Yes, the colors adhere to the following:

a) some material looks like taken from a color negative and have wonderful old colors, like the first color photographs taken.

b) some material looks like they are taken from the B&W negative and are digitally colored (looks like some Turner colored classics, but with that difference, that this film is shot in color, and

c) some sequences are left B&W (night shots etc). Overall I found the picture quality good!

The sequences in the color version are not always the same than in the B&W edition. Some scenes are angled differently, and some takes are not identical to the B&W (peoples arms and gesture are not exactly the same).

The B&W edition in this disc is unfortunately left in very bad condition, it looks like a VHS cassette. When you understand that it's not the same movie, you feel sorry for that they didn't also restore the 1964 version of the film.

Sound:
I don't understand how they manage to make new audio for this film. It sounds incredible good. The sound is dynamic and the music score sounds as if it was recorded yesterday. There is no noise, scratches or popping whatsoever in the sound. Just fantastic! I wonder if there has been any new sound tracks made for this edition.

The B&W is left un-restored and sounds narrow and bad!

Extras:
This edition has the same extras that the other Nordic disc's. The short film L'ecole des facteurs (1947) is in some way the first draft for this movie, but otherwise I miss more information than the short introduction for the color version. This is a very exciting pice of film history, a short film and three versions, the last after Tati's death.

Overall:
We can start to count the days for the Criterion disc to be released. I can promise, in my case, that it will be one of the top three disc's for 2004. I'm so happy to have this film. It didn't only get pleasure for 77 minutes, it will stay with me for the entire year, and probably also the coming years!

 Per-Olof Strandberg

 


Menus
(Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - LEFT vs. BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)
 

 

BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

 

 

BFI DVD in Blu-ray package

 


 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

Screen Captures

 

1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4/5) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - FOURTH + BOTTOM

 


1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) Future Films - Region 0 - PAL - SECOND

3) BFI (The Jacques Tati Collection) - Region 2 - PAL - THIRD

4) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

"Color added by Tati" - Samples

 

1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 

1) Future Film - Region 2 - PAL - TOP

2) BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - BOTTOM

 

 


 

Report Card:

 

Image:

Blu-ray

Sound:

Blu-ray

Extras: Blu-ray

 
Box Covers

 

 

 

 

Distribution

Future Film

Region 2 - PAL

Future Films
Region 0 - PAL
BFI
Region 2 - PAL
BFI - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

The individual release is also available the BFI's The Jacques Tati Collection which includes Jour de fête / Les Vacances de M. Hulot / Mon Oncle / Playtime and Parade.

 

 




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