Who is the best silent-film comedian? Most people would answer Charles Chaplin. Or Buster Keaton. Or Harold Lloyd. Or even Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.
My favorite silent-film comedian? Someone who never made a film either in Hollywood or during the silent era. That's Jacques Tati, who, had he been a Hollywood star, would be considerably better remembered today.
But no, Tati belonged to the French film industry. And that's where he made nearly dialogue-less classics such as M. Hulot's Holiday and Mon Oncle, winner of the best foreign-language film Oscar of 1958.
Below is a clip showing the first few scenes of Mon Oncle — a beautiful, humorous, and poetic introduction to a beautiful, humorous, and poetic film. Music by Franck Barcellini and Alain Romans.
This clip was posted by samuca1983.
I love Jacques Tati. Mon Oncle and M. Hulot's Holilday are two of my favorite comedies.
Tati was a genius.