New de Funès documentary

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Uli Ruedel
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New de Funès documentary

Postby Uli Ruedel » Sat Dec 14, 2013 7:49 am


Richard M Roberts
Godfather
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Re: New de Funès documentary

Postby Richard M Roberts » Sun Dec 15, 2013 11:19 am

Uli Ruedel wrote:... on December 23, 2013 on arte - feature-length and with a lovely trailer:
http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/047599-000/monsieur-de-funes#details-videos
http://www.arte.tv/guide/de/047599-000/louis-de-funes

Uli


Good Lord, I haven't thought about him in probably forty years, ever since I saw THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB, which was very funny. What else of his was good?


RICHARD M ROBERTS

Uli Ruedel
Capo
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Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:47 am

Re: New de Funès documentary

Postby Uli Ruedel » Mon Dec 16, 2013 2:07 pm

His best one might be OSCAR, undistilled if stage-bound de Funès based on his frantic theatre success (which also seems to survive in a French broadcast recording), and inexplicably remade with Sylvester Stallone. The FANTOMAS series, which casts him against Marais' master criminal (and quickly turned from spy spoof to Commissioner Juve comedy within its three entries) and the GENDARME comedies are quite enduring as well and their respective first entries were the films that kicked him into stardom. Also popular - La Grande Vadrouille, the WWII comedy with Bourvil and Terry-Thomas, the crime comedy Jo by GENDARME director Girault, and among the later entries, L'aile ou la cuisse with Coluche, which nearly teamed him with 'Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe' Pierre Richard. Finding English-friendly options might be the challenge though...

Uli

Uli Ruedel
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Posts: 208
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:47 am

Re: New de Funès documentary

Postby Uli Ruedel » Thu Mar 23, 2023 5:12 am

Meanwhile (quite a while)... there IS a region A Blu of RABBI JACOB,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGx2DwPq8AA

as well as a Kino Lorber FANTOMAS collection, and in France, OSCAR and some other English-friendly Blus (check specs carefully) have been released. So with some unfortunate exceptions, most notably the Gendarme series, it *is* now possible to get some pretty good idea of this madcap comedy genius/auteur in HD with English subs. (Though sometimes the 5.1 remixes raise an eyebrow, restoration-ethically.) If Tati and Etaix are France's Chaplin and Keaton, respectively, then de Funes is easily all six Stooges in one, with a bit of heart and poignancy thrown in on occasion for good measure. (And Pierre Richard surely isn't bad either! It's too bad they didn't get to co-star in 1976 as originally planned.) And it's still beyond me why he doesn't seem to be on the radar of so many slapstick experts at all - must simply be the lack of access. So get those Blus and share your impressions...

Uli


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