User reviews

This is a 26 minute documentary on the 1965 Tour de France by Claude Lelouch, partly in colour. It contains a series of non-chronological impressions and fragments relating to all aspects of the Tour. For insiders: there are images of the finish in Liège (stage 1a, Van Looy wins, unfortunately hardly visible), in Ax-les-Thermes (stage 10, Reybrouck beating Van Looy) and in Montpellier (stage 13, Durante beating Lute and Wright). You may also recognize Gimondi, Poulidor, Jimenez, Janssen, Reybrouck, Den Hartog, De Roo, Motta, Van Looy, Wright, Perez-Frances, Bahamontes and Simpson. And for the numerous Belgian Rik Van Looy fans: there is a glimpse of the 'Emperor' wearing the yellow jersey (in colour) at the end of the second stage in Roubaix! Historically interesting.

During the 70´s this documentary was used in Argentina as a example of what you can do with good film language. The use of present, past and even future in the story was analized as interesting editing, and the different changes of colour were considered outstanding. The sound also was considered as how to change the sequence by using different sounds, and obviously the absence of any text was considered by students in those days as the utmost in the documentary genre. The camara work was admired especially because in the days when the short was made, no steady-cam existed and everything depended on the capacity of the camareman.