PIERRE ETAIX: GENIUS

American readers won't recognize the name Pierre Etaix. TOO BAD! The man was one of the greatest of all French filmmakers and exerted a big influence on American comedy people like Jerry Lewis and Ernie Kovacs.  But don't take my word for it: watch his Academy Award winning short "Happy Anniversary" (above), co-written (with Jean-Claude Carriere), directed and performed by Etaix. If you make film for a living, you'll find a lot to study here.

Unfortunately the YouTube copies of the two films I'm talking about suck and give a false impression of the pace and atmosphere in the story. Etaix's films suffer more than most from reduction and bad sound. Be sure to watch them as large as you can.



See what you think of this clip (above) from his 1965 feature called "Yo-Yo." The precision, the way lighting and staging enhance the humor, the way one gag morphs into another, the way sound effects are used...it's a textbook of technique.

Once again, watch the film in the largest size possible.

Etaix (above) is still very much alive, and age hasn't hurt him a bit, not in the face anyway. In his retirement years Etaix (above) has one of the kindest faces I've seen.

Here's Etaix with his good friend, Jerry Lewis. There's some similarity in the best of their films. You have to wonder, who influenced who?  My guess is that Etaix influenced Jerry which, if it's true, doesn't diminish Jerry a bit. Even Shakespeare had influences.

BTW: Many thanks to Steve Worth for introducing me to these films! If you live in LA and would like to see good prints of these this weekend then contact The Creative League via Steve's site: http://animationresources.org/