L'école des facteurs

School for Postmen (1947)

*** (out of 4)

Tati short has him playing a postman who will stop at nothing to get the mail delivered quickly. This was my first film from Tati and after hearing many comparisons to Chaplin it's easy to see why. I really loved the way he went for broke when it came to the humor in the film and that includes a wide range of gags ranging from literally riding his bike on the back of a truck to avoiding death by cutting in front of cars. I know Tati remade this with Jour de Fete but this short is still worth seeing. It really does play out a lot like a Chaplin short from the 1920s as Tati's character never says much of anything and him constantly getting into one mess after another makes for a sweet natured character that I really enjoyed. I'm still not quite sure how they got the bicycle to drive by itself but it was certainly a great gag.

Jacques Tati is very funny in this short film. Most of the scenes are used again in «Jour de fête» (1948), a full feature film.

François (played by Tati) is the local postman somewhere in rural France. He wants to be as fast as the American postmen!

Very funny movie that reminded me of some classic Chaplin performances from the 20's.

Out of 100, I gave it 80. That's *** on a four stars rating system.

It is one of the best early work of Tati. You can find all the gags of 'L'école des facteurs' in 'jour de fête' but I think that the timing is better in this one. It is in this piece that you realise how perfectionist Tati was.

In this short film - a sort of character study for the later full length feature 'Jour de Fete', Tati plays a postman who has to operate more efficiently to meet a new schedule. The way in which he tries to speed up his round while still sticking to all the human interactions that come with being a postmen in the - still rural - setting of a small French village in the mid of the 20th century. Tati's physical slapstick is simply delightful. His humour is never rude or degrading to anyone involved but merely wonders about the intricacies of human interaction. He has an incredible talent for showing us what this is *really* about and is disarming in his directness and honesty. Especially the dance sequence in the café brings my mind to a halt every time I see it ... there are no words to really do it justice.

It's the rounds of a bicycle mailman, carrying the letters and small packages the people on his route receive, done the Tati way, with a blithe disregard for the wearying modern methods that bring speed but no pleasure. In other words, it's the sort of movie he would make at feature length.

Tati is usually held in such esteem by those who know his work, that in fairness, I should say I don't find his work funny. That is not to imply it's not good or even great, but his work seems to me more on the order of nostalgic musings, pleas to stop and enjoy the oddities, like a bicycle that knows its rider's habit so well that it can run his route without him, and stop at his favorite cafe.

Tati's work had not reached its later levels here. He's more concerned with the gag and punchline and the reactions of others - although more the youngsters than his nominal superior. Even so, this is a bright, offbeat short that should please Tati's fans and amuse those with twenty minutes to spare.