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After giving a quick look at French actor/writer/director Jacques Tati's early films, those new to his work could easily think he should be slotted alongside classic silent-comedy stars like Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, as his abilities as a mime and with physical comedy, as well as the bemused quality of his characters fit that mold very well. However, Tati worked in a world of "talkies", even if you barely needed to understand a word spoken to really enjoy his movies, which frequently used society's obsession on progress, innovation and technology as a target for his comedy and commentary. His characters are old-school and struggle with change, but the movies aren't laughing at them. They serve to show the problems found in forgetting the past.

One of the things that set Tati apart from the earlier greats was his ability as a filmmaker. Not to take anything away from pioneers like Lloyd and Keaton, who were masters at pulling off a gag for the camera, but Tati's artistry was on another level, as he crafted beautiful imagery to go along with his comedy, culminating in his masterwork, the stunning PlayTime, which brought together all the skill he showed in his brief, but impressive filmmaking career, in one mammoth, misunderstood spectacle that downplayed his most popular creation and offered a beautiful meditation on modern life.

For this collection, Criterion gathered together the Tati films they've released over the years -- Mon Oncle, M. Hulot's Holiday, PlayTime and Trafic -- and filled in the gaps with the first feature he directed, Jour de Fete, the last film he made, Parade and a disc of Tati-related shorts, to create a rather complete overview of the man's career, adding in a smorgasbord of extras to rise it pass complete to ultimate.

Edition Details:

• New digital restorations of all six feature films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks on the Blu-rays of Jour de fete, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, Mon oncle, Trafic, and Parade and 3.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray of Playtime
• New digital restorations of all seven short films

The bulk of The Complete Jacques Tati consists of six features:

••• Jour de Fete. A hapless small town postman (Jacques Tati) watches a film on the modern U.S. postal system during the town's fair. Recognizing the brilliance of the modern system, our hero decides to incorporate their techniques with hilarious results.

Extras:
• Two alternate versions of Jour de fete, a partly colorized 1964 version (1:20:31) and the full-color 1995 rerelease version (1:20:15)
• A L'americaine (American Style) - visual essays on Jour de fete by Tati expert Stephane Goudet (1:21:06)
• "Jour de fete": In Search of the Lost Color, a 1988 documentary on the restoration of the film to Tati's original color vision (30:05)
• Jour de fete Trailer (2:35)

••• M. Hulot's Holiday. Monsieur Hulot attempts to vacation at a small, seaside village. Despite his best intentions, he constantly finds himself wreaking some comedic form of havoc.

Extras:
• Clear Skies, Light Breeze visual essays on Monsieur Hulot's Holiday by Tati expert Stephane Goudet (40:25)
• Original 1953 theatrical release version of Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1:40:05)
• Terry Jones Intro to Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (3:29)
• New interview with critic Michel Chion on Tati’s sound design (31:52)
• Archival video and audio interviews (Cine regards) with Tati (26:37)

••• Mon Oncle. Rather than the French seaside, M. Hulot finds himself in a new suburb of Paris, baffled by modern everything, from technology to architecture.

Extras:
• My Uncle, the version of Mon oncle that director Jacques Tati created for English-language audiences
• Once Upon a Time . . . "Mon oncle", a 2008 documentary on the making of the film (51:38)
• Terry Jones Intro to Mon oncle (5:10)
• Everything Is Beautiful, a, 3-part, 2005 piece on the fashion, furniture, and architecture of Mon oncle (23:58 + 20:04 + 8:44)
• Everything's Connected - a visual essay by Tati expert Stephane Goudet (51:37)
• 'Le Hasard de Jacques Tati' - 1977 French TV Episode (8:31)

••• Playtime. M. Hulot finally finds himself in Paris proper, navigating environments from the Orly airport to an ultra-modern high-rise and a bustling restaurant.

Extras:
• Terry Jones Intro (6:17)
• Selected-scene commentaries on PlayTime by Goudet, theater director Jerome Deschamps, and critic Philip Kemp
• Tativille, a documentary shot on the set of PlayTime (26:10)
• Beyond "PlayTime", a short 2002 documentary featuring on-set footage (6:30)
• Like Home - a visual essays by Tati expert Stephane Goudet (18:55)
• Interview from 2006 with PlayTime script supervisor Sylvette Baudrot (12:10)
• Jacques Tati at the San Francisco Film Festival - 1972 - Audio Excerpts (16:44)

••• Trafic. M. Hulot travels to an automotive exhibition and struggles along the way to deal with gadgets and cars.

Extras:
• Jacques Tati in Monsieur Hulot's Works - UK TV Omnibus program (49:27)
• Trafic Trailer (2:47)

••• Parade. Filmed for Swedish television, Tati plays a clown who gives us backstage access to the world of the circus.

Extras:
• In the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot, a 1989 documentary about Tati’s beloved alter ego (5-part 51:18)
• In the Ring - a visual essays by Tati expert Stephane Goudet (28:06)
• "An Homage to Jacques Tati", a 1982 program featuring Tati friend and set designer Jacques Lagrange (15:00)

In addition to these six features, we also get seven restored shorts:

•• On demande on brut (1934, 25:01) stars Tati (who also writes but does not direct) in a film about a young man who has to pretend he's a wrestler.
•• Gai dimanche (1935, 21:31) is Tati's directorial debut (though he co-directed it with Jacques Berr), as he and a friend start a low-rent tour company offering their unique perspective on leisure.
•• Soigne ton gauche (1936, 13:23) is again written by Tati and finds him as a comedic fantasy boxer.
•• L'ecole de facteurs (The School for Postmen) (1946, 16:05) finds Tati working on the character who would eventually appear in Jour de Fete.
•• Cours du soir (1967, 28:36) is ostensibly a lesson in mime from Tati, but really it's an excuse for the actor to recreate the vaudeville-style act that made him famous initially.
•• Degustation maison (1978, 13:58) is a film by Tati's daughter that returns us to the town featured in Jour de Fete.
•• Forza Bastia (1978, 27:37) is a documentary about soccer started by Tati and finished by his daughter.

Extras:
• Professor Goudet's Lessons (31:28)
• Tati Story, a short biographical film from 2002 (20:38)

7 x BD50 | 1080p AVC | 600 minutes | 307 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais, English
Subtitles: English

12 x DVD9 | NTSC | 600 minutes | ~86 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Francais
Subtitles: English