MovieChat Forums > Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot (1954) Discussion > The best joke of the movie ?

The best joke of the movie ?

posted 18 years ago by RedSoxCoder
34 replies | jump to latest

I was just thinking back about the little jokes and one particular thing made me laugh, just by thinking about it:

There's this scene where Hulot carries some thing inside the house of those girl (as far as I can remember it correctly) and there are some suitcases in the door opening. Hulot can't see where he's going and thinks the stairs is just a few steps longer and falls flat through the door.
Really brilliant joke, since most of the time things happen unexpectedly and this one you can see coming for ages - the fun lies in the way the suitcases are perfectly aligned with the stairs.

[–] chris-hughes-1 18 years ago

I love the elegant way Tati treads on the tow-rope just as the breakdown-truck starts to tighten it and is catapulted into the harbour... perfect in its execution!

A gag worthy of Buster Keaton...

[–] writelasse 12 years ago

That was brilliant, it made me laugh out loud!

[–] simontgraves 18 years ago

The tennis scene does it for me!

[–] mavturner 18 years ago

The incomprehensible platform announcements at the train station always cracks me up - you see all the folks charging up and down the stairs onto the wrong platforms - anybody who takes public transport would know how they felt!

[–] LuciaJoyce 18 years ago

The scene with Hulot on the boat! I was quite literally rolling around on the floor during that scene.

Plus it was jawdroppingly awesome in its technical execution.

I also liked how the wind always seemed to follow Hulot around, and blow everything about in his wake.

[–] sjl004 18 years ago

The bit in the canoe when the paint pot washes out then in again to the same position! how!

http://us.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=4995990

[–] dave-402 17 years ago

I always figured they just used a string . . . .

[–] merrywriter 18 years ago

I don't have a favorite, but I marvel at the ping pong ball, the two card games and the misunderstanding that ensures - perfectly executed. I'm an old old lady from the days of burlesque and had never seen this sight gag before. Many gags were right out of Laurel and Hardy, especially the dinner scene passing the salt and napkin-wiping. You will even see some of Stan Laurel's expressions on Tati's face. Since Laurel thought up many of their gags, he would have loved this one and probably did see the film because it was Oscar nominated in 1956. Much of this was an homage to Laurel [an English man originally].

[–] megArnold 17 years ago

Fireworks explode.

Old Admiral (or whoever) opens window.
Sees nothing.
Rocket passes over his head.
He closes the window.
Without a sound, the window lights up brightly.

So simple.

[–] Kinoks 17 years ago

For me... It is clearly the car itself... You don't see it in the beginning but You can really HEAR it... it sounds like a truck and then you see this little smoking tinbox passing in the middle of the screen...

"My task i tried to achieve is above all to make you see" [D. W. Griffith]

[–] matthew-brown1 17 years ago

I Think the scene in the church yard with the inner tube when it is put on the grave and starts hissing when it is nailed.Another scene is when he goes out on his boat and it breaks in half and the oars goes flying Also the scene with the horse on the beach and the horse kicks the boot lid of that car with the man sitting in it.

[–] ksf-2 15 years ago

... when the skinny ladies walk by the chef, he cuts thin slices of meat, but when Hulot walks past, the chef slices a piece three inches across...

[–] marismi 17 years ago

there are so MANY "best jokes" in it! if i start thinking about one of them, i must smile and the next comes into my brain, and the next and the next and i must smile!

when i saw it the first time (ca 30 or 35 years ago) i thought that it´s the best comedy of all times; and i still think so.

friendly wave

m.

ALL LIFE IS EQUAL

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dwasek 17 years ago

I love the scene where he goes to tap his pipe on his heel and a fox pelt has become attached to his spur, he really jumps when he sees the fox, thinking it is attacking him.

[–] rob101 17 years ago

Yup i love all the scenes already mentioned but i cried laughing the other night after watching the film yet again - the aforementioned scene with the horse on the beach, after some 'trouble' he gives up and shuts the door on the horse but STILL has to take another peek through the tiny window on the side of the shed - like with everything Tati/Hulot does it's down to the WAY he does it.

I also love the part where he returns to the hotel with wet shoes. He hides in the coats and then (off camera) makes a dash for his room upstairs, while the hotel worker's back is turned - with footprints giving the game away, followed by the oar sliding down the stairs. SO funny and yet you don't see most of the action. Genius.

[–] rafacat 17 years ago

Another one that for me creates a hilarious image, perfectly executed by Tati is the scene where he is painting the kayak, and the tide moves the bucket of paint around.
What I love about his movies is the fact that he does not need a complicated plot and obvious jokes to create a masterpiece. I think it was Ebert that said that "he attempts to make comedy beautiful" and that is exactly what i think. All he did in "Les Vacances de Mr. Hulot" was to portrait a common, usual holiday in the French coast. But he did it in the most gracious and funny way - not "in your face" funny, but a subtle kind of funny.

[–] HulotderSpeiler 15 years ago

That staircase scene is perfect, but I am always partial to the simple umbrella gimmick. It is not as funny, but it has a sort of feel to it that is like It is something remembered from a dream. But the part a laugh the most is when everyone is having a quiet game of cards, and then the music comes on full blast. It suprises me every time.

black and white movies were better