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Category:    Home > Reviews > Comedy > Mime > Circus > French TV > Jacques Tati’s Parade (1974/Umbrella Entertainment/PAL/All Region)

Jacques Tati’s Parade (1974/Umbrella Entertainment/PAL/All Region)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C     Extras: C     Film: B-

 

 

PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero PAL format software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address provided at the end of the review.

 

 

One of the most intelligent, interesting, and important filmmakers of French cinema is Jacques Tati, and yet to this day his work still remains highly underrated and underappreciated.  Fortunately there are still companies out there that are dedicated to seeing his films arrive on home video formats, the recent issue of his 1974 made-for-TV film Parade from Umbrella Entertainment is just one great example.

 

Now the film does not come close to many of Tati’s other productions and this is also his last film, but still worth seeing at some point in time.  Tati would pass away less than a decade later and it’s tragic that this would be his last production, which took place just a few years after his brilliant Trafic (1971). This particular film is unique in that it’s more of a performance than anything else, it’s simply a bunch of talented artists and circus performers doing their thing in front of a live audience and filmed from various angles to create a narrative that only Tati could masterfully pull together.

 

Presented in a full-frame transfer the image quality is disappointing, dated, and doesn’t help bring the feature to life.  Colors are muted, fidelity is almost non-existent, there is edge enhancement, washed out, lack of depth, and looks like a downgraded recycled VHS transfer.  The 2.0 stereo mix is also problematic with very little fidelity and is noisy.  We understand that perhaps not the best elements were available to choose from for this release, but by DVD standards this is an embarrassingly poor effort and we hope that in the future better elements will be made available or a full-restoration can take place.

 

No real extras here either, but it is all-region so importing this DVD should not be a problem for Region 1/U.S. audiences.

 

 

As noted above, you can order this PAL DVD import exclusively from Umbrella at:

 

http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/

 

 

-   Nate Goss


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