You can’t become an auteur without starting somewhere, and Jacques Tati started, like many a screen comic, in the short subjects. He first appeared on the silver screen in 1932, and by 1934, he was co-writing.
In this, his first as co-writer/star: Tati is an actor married to Helene Pepee. In search of a job, he answers an ad and signs a contract…. but it’s for a wrestling match with Kola Kwariani (best remembered for Kubrick’s THE KILLING.
The first half is setting up the situation and a couple of gags. The second half is the match itself, performed in a brutal manner, in which Tati is aided by his fellow actor, Rhum. It’s certainly not paced like a comedy fight — but then, when Keaton got into the squared ring, it was pretty brutal. We’re definitely not in the world of M. Hulot; Taii lives in the real world, with a nagging wife and money worries.
Rene Clement is the Assistant Director of this short, which might strike the film fan familiar with Clement’s work as director as odd, but he was just getting established, and it was a job. Robert Aldrich was another director not known for comedy, but he was an A.D. for ABBOT & COSTELLO MEET CAPTAIN KIDD and Chaplin’s LIMELIGHT.
