The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (1973)

THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB is a comic masterpiece that BOX OFFICE called "one of the funniest movies from any country" upon its initial theatrical release in 1973. THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER described the performance of French comedy superstar Louis de Funes as "reminiscent of Jerry Lewis!" Now a new generation of movie lovers can finally discover this lost comic treasure that the L.A. HERALD EXAMINER called "a truly entertaining film."Victor Pivert is a very tolerant man - provided you are white Catholic and French. To everyone else he is a shameless racist who believes foreigners should go back where they came from. On his way to his daughter's wedding Victor uncovers a group of scheming Arab revolutionaries. After Victor is discovered he hides himself by dressing up as a rabbi leading to one madcap scene after another. THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB is an extremely entertaining film - fresh funny and powerfully poignant.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 736899082321 Manufacturer No: DV71042 Product Description

Fantastic

This will likely be the funniest and one of the most charming movies you will see in your life. It has humor only the French can conceive of. The main actor (forget his name) provides endless funny gesturing, verbal wordplay,--it is simply a great great movie. I only wish more people were aware of it. Absolutely don't miss it. Worth every penny. February 20, 2008

good movie, bad dvd

I saw a customer take this out from the library, so I decided to borrow it after him. I mean, it had a very unique name, but I didn't know what to expect. Since I've never heard of this movie before I came out knowing nothing about it, which for me ended up being a good thing, because I love it now. At first I hated the slapstick, but after a while you get into it and appeciate how funny it is. It's about a guy, Mr. Victor Pivert, who accidentally overhears and thwarts the assassination of revolutionary leader Slimane, but ends up posing as Rabbi Jacob to get away from killers. Mr. Pivert is Catholic (and sadly gives a bad image of us Catholics) but since he is disguised as a rabbi, he ends up learning about and appreciating Judaism. What happens to the real Rabbi Jacob is priceless. The dvd itself is awful. You have to click on everything twice to access anything. Also they don't list their filmographies chronologically, which confused me because the dvd says this was Oury and Funes last movie together, and I got horribly confused as to which came first "The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob" or "Delusions of Grandeur" ("...Rabbi Jacob" came first). I had to check again to make sure.
Thank goodness I borrowed this from my university's library and didn't pay for it, because they could've made it into a more user friendly dvd.
In short, the movie was great, but the dvd people blew it big time. August 18, 2007

THE FUNNIEST FILM I HAVE EVER SEEN

I originally saw an English version of this film in a cinema over 30 years ago and was delighted to find it was available on DVD. The fact that the soundtrack on the DVD is in French, one of the (n-1) languages I do not speak, made no difference to my enjoyment of seeing it again. This film tells a good story. It is inoffensive. The acting is superb, with just enough exaggeration to remove the content from the reality of everyday life and enable the viewer recapture the experience of seeing a proper movie. The humour ranges from the subtle to the extreme slapstick and the result is one very, very funny film. I have no hesitation in stating it is the funniest one I have ever seen. There are lots of other good comedies but none come close to The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob. It is in a class of its own. I hope the version with the English soundtrack will be produced as a DVD soon. July 15, 2007

Hilarious comedy for the whole family

Luis de Funes was one of the funniest French actors and it is unfortunate that very few of his films are available with English subtitles (this one has them). Luis is a master of funny facial expressions that will make all ages laugh. We ordered this movie from Amazon and watched it with our children (4 and 6 yrs old) - everybody had a great time (the children especially liked the bubble gum factory scenes). There are a few gunshots and a fight but the violence is cartoonish, G rating is fitting. Great lessons about overcoming racism and respecting cultural and religious (here Jewish) traditions. I can also see that newer comedies drew inspiration from this film. Some reviewer said that the ending was confusing but if you pay attention throughout the movie, it all makes sense somewhat :) May 24, 2007

Comedy at its best.

Side splitting humor! Sub-titles are more than adequate.
A very good example of Funes' type of comedy. May 24, 2007

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