NOTE: These Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Phew -  Seven dual-layered Blu-ray discs with the 6 Jacques Tati feature films getting new digital restorations (including the alternate versions) and a separate disc with seven Tati 'shorts' (also new digital restorations)... plus plenty of extras. There was a lot to compare with most of the film previously available on Blu-ray - even PlayTime from Criterion in 2009! Notable 1080P comparisons include Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday and PlayTime which take on very greenish/grey-cast look. There is so much here.

Quick comments - Jour de fête (1949) the original looks great - it is also the most robust with lesser transfers going to the partly colorized 1964 version (1:20:31) and full-color 1995 rerelease version (1:20:15). We've added caps of all three. On the Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday Blu-ray disc we get a transfer of the 12-minute shorter, 1978 re-release edited by Tati (including an optional English-language soundtrack), that matches up well with the BFI - perhaps slightly tighter and on the same disc they add the 1953 Theatrical Release version - less robust and possibly a notch below the BFI 1080P. NOTE: Mr. Hulot's Holiday, Jacques Tati's second feature, was released in Paris on February 27th, 1953. On that day, Mr. Hulot was born. First in 1962, and later on in 1978, Tati worked on his film again. He re-edited it, cut some shots out, lengthened a few others, re-orchestrated the score and re-mixed the sound. Thus, over a period of 25 years, he continued to create the world of his main character. The film was released around the world. The original elements were damaged and weakened by the repeated re-editing process, as well as by numerous changes performed by the director. The restoration project undertaken in 2009 is based on the last version that Jacques Tati edited in 1978. Thank to the photochemical process and digital tools, the original image quality of the picture and the richness of the sound have been successfully recreated."

Overall Mon oncle significantly advances - deeper, darker, richer colors but check out the 4th large capture (the one compared to SD as well) and you can see a huge difference - with advantage going to the Criterion but slightly less information in the frame. Okay, what may be the most discussed title - PlayTime - has gone back to the greenish/grey look of both the Criterion and BFI DVDs from the early 2000's. Similar color news with Trafic - although the improved resolution definitely shows up sharper, tighter visuals. Parade will never look dynamic - at the mercy of the original production - but it has cleaned-up well (far less artifacts than the SDs) and shows much more information in the frame. I may comment more on the video - or post comments people send to me.

Supplements: (all extras have optional English subtitles)

On the Jour de fête, disc - aside from the two alternate versions , we get A L'americaine (American Style) - a fabulous visual essay on Jour de fête by Stéphane Goudet running almost 1.5 hours as he tracks the evolution of Tati's comedy stylings, from their originals in the short films where he first appeared through his ambitious feature productions. Also we get “Jour de fête”: In Search of the Lost Color, a 1988 1/2 hour documentary, from the French television program Cinema cinemas which details the discovery of the negatives that led to the completion and restoration of the film to Tati’s original color vision. It features interviews with Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff, producer Fred Orain and cinematographer Jacques Mercanton. There is also a trailer for Jour de fête.

On the Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday disc, included is another excellent visual essay by Tati expert Stéphane Goudet entitled Clear Skies, Light Breeze. It runs 40-minutes and Goudet discusses the debut of Tati's Monsieur Hulot character, among other topics. We get a brief Terry Jones Intro to Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, recorded by Criterion in 2001, running about 3.5-minutes. There is a new 1/2-hour interview, conducted by Criterion in Paris in 2014, with film composer critic Michel Chion analyzing the sound design on Jacques Tati's films. There are archival video and audio interviews (from the show Cine regards) with Tati watching clips from his Monsieur Hulot films and talking about his role as both filmmaker and performer. Plus we do get the original 1953 theatrical release version of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday running 1-hour 40-minutes in 1080P.

On the Mon oncle Blu-ray, the extensive extras include My Uncle, the version of Mon oncle that director Jacques Tati created for English-language audiences to be released concurrently with the original French version. In it, the Arpel family members converse in English, while the townspeople around them speak French. In addition, many scenes are edited slightly differently, resulting in a run time that's ten minutes shorter. In some cases, scenes were actually reshot so that English street signs could be incorporated. Once Upon a Time . . . “Mon oncle,” is a 2008 documentary on the making of the film by Marie Genin and Serge July, and features interviews with filmmaker Pierre Etaix, architect Jean Nouvel, designer Philippe Starck and director David Lynch among others. It runs 51-minutes long. We get another Terry Jones Intro running just over 5-minutes plus Everything Is Beautiful, a, 3-part, 2005 piece on the fashion, furniture design, and architecture of Mon oncle. It is produced by Les Films de Mon Oncle. Everything's Connected is a 51-minute visual essay from 2013 by Tati expert Stéphane Goudet who discusses the stylistic similarities between Mon oncle and the other Monsieur Hulot vehicles PlayTime, Trafic and Monsieur Hulot's Holiday. 'Le Hasard de Jacques Tati' is 8-minutes from the 1977 French TV show 30 millions d'amis where Tati introduces his dog, Hasard, and talks about the canine stars of Mon oncle.

On the PlayTime Blu-ray we get another Terry Jones Intro running over 6-minutes and selected-scene commentaries on PlayTime by three different individuals; Goudet, theater director Jérome Deschamps, and critic Philip Kemp (his duplicated from the 2009 Criterion Blu-ray.) Tativille, a 26-minute documentary shot on the set of PlayTime and it is quite interesting. Beyond “PlayTime,” is a shorter (less than 7-minutes) 2002 documentary featuring on-set footage. It was written by Stéphane Goudet and it explores the genesis of the director's hugely ambitious project. Like Home is another visual essays by Tati expert Goudet running less than 20-minutes further exploring the director's stylistic choices. We get a 12-minute interview from 2006 with PlayTime script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot who worked with Tati for more than 5 decades (on 3 of his films.) She recalls collaborating on PlayTime specifically. Lastly are audio excerpts of Jacques Tati at the San Francisco Film Festival from 1972 - running 16-minutes.

Sharing the Trafic disc are both a trailer and the 50-minute 1976 episode of the British television program Omnibus where film critic Gavin Millar interview Jacques Tati at the Hotel de la Plage, made famous in Monsieur Hulot's Holiday. Tati discusses his work as a comedian and filmmaker, and specifically those films featuring his beloved Hulot character.

The Blu-ray with Parade has In the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot, a 2-part, 51-minute, 1989 documentary about Tati’s beloved alter ego and has Tati's daughter Sophie, who chronicles the evolution of 'Hulot' through archival interviews, on-set footage, photos and film clips. In the Ring is another visual essays by Tati expert Stéphane Goudet running shy of 1/2 hour and lastly, as part or the Parade supplements is “An Homage to Jacques Tati,” a, 1/4 hour, 1982 program featuring Tati set designer Jacques Lagrange who pays tribute to his friend, Jacques Tati, through anecdotes about their collaboration.

The final Blu-ray disc that contains 7 shorts film we also get extras. Firstly, the films; On demande une brute (1934 - 25:01) is a slapstick piece, directed by Charles Barrois and written by Tati and Rene Clement where a shy out-of-work actor enters a professional wrestling match. It also stars Enrico Sprocani, a famous circus clown know as Rhum. Gai dimanche (1935 - 21:31) was written and co-starred by both Tati and Sprocani and directed by Jacques Berr. It tells the story of a couple of city tramps who hatch a clever moneymaking scheme. Soigne ton gauche (1936 - 13:23) was written by Tati and directed by Rene Clement. A farmer who dreams of becoming a boxer but is ill-prepared when he gets his wish. L’école des facteurs (1946 - 16:05) is about a clumsy rural postman named Francois. It was the first film Tati directed on his own; he also wrote and stars in it. Tati would reprise the role of Francois in Jour de fete a few years later. Cours du soir (1967 - 28:36) was made while Tati was in production on PlayTime and shot on the sets built for that film. It was directed by Tati assistant Nicolas Ribowski and stars Tati as an acting instructor. Dégustation maison (1978 - 13:58) was directed by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff . It was shot in a cafe in Sainte-Severe-sur-Indre, the same town where Tati's Jour de fete was filmed. It won a Cesar Award for best short fiction in 1978. Forza Bastia (1978 - 27:37) was directed by Tati documenting a Dutch-French soccer match in 1978. He never finished editing it, but daughter Sophie Tatischeff discovered the footage and completed the film for a 2000 release. Also included on this Blu-ray are the 1/2 hour Professor Goudet's Lessons made in 2013 where Goudet gives a classroom lecture on the concepts that are essential for understanding Tati's cinema. Tati Story, is a 20-minute biographical film from 2002 by Goudet tracing Tati's life and work through clips from his films, rare photos and archival material. The package also contains a liner notes booklet featuring essays by critics James Quandt, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Kristin Ross, and David Cairns.

Certainly the most 'complete' set of the year... and, for Tati, maybe ever. It is an integral part of any cinephile's collection. The multiple versions, the shorts, the endless extras... our highest recommendation!

Gary W. Tooze