Cycling In Cinema: Jour De Fete (1949)

A wonderful film from a genius of a director. The fair comes to the village and Francois the postman (Tati) attempts to speed up his delivery system, based on what he sees in the film showing American mechanised methods, shown at the fair, on site in the village. The scenes of impeccable comic timing that follow take place within settings that resemble a Dufy painting come to life. With more than a hint of the ‘democratic comedy’ that would be more fully realised in his later films, the restored colour print brings Tati’s vision alive. A film to gladden the heart. Essentially a full-length version of the earlier short film, L'Ecole De Facteurs from a few years previous. Flmed during the summer of 1947 in and around the French village of Ste. Severe Sur Indre (36)

Cycling In Cinema: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Author's Club First Novel Award.

It was adapted by Sillitoe into a 1960 film starring Albert Finney, directed by Karel Reisz.

Arthur is 22 years old, works at a lathe, machining bottom bracket spindles, at the Raleigh bicycle factory in Nottingham with his friend Jack. Arthur keeps his mind occupied during the mundane and repetitive work through a mental collage of imagined fantasies, and memories of the past.

Bicycle License Plates

Canadian Municipal License Plates







Municipalities in Canada have issued license plates for all kinds of uses; from bicycles, to popsicle carts, even vending machines. If there's a bylaw on the books which requires a license to operate, chances are a license plate or some sort of validation decal has been issued to show the licensing fee has been paid.

In the early days bicycles were seen as a form of transportation and, therefore, it made sense to tax them as they were part of the normal road traffic. Today, cycling is seen more as a recreational activity, and many cyclists would prefer to be on designated paths rather than in traffic. Of the multitude of municipalities which did issue bicycle license plates, it is likely that only a small handful remain today. Most cities simply allow you to register your bike at the police station, free of charge, on a voluntary basis. If there is any nominal fee involved, it would probably be administered by a local bicycle club for the upkeep of trails, and therefore no license plate would be necessary.

As you can see, these bicycle plates have been issued in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The earliest ones were simply brass tags, similar in style to the familiar dog tags. Many cities had theirs made by the Bicycle Guild of Montreal. They are the small plastic square plates on the left. Those of French-Speaking towns often had bilingual legends. Occasionally, the odd slogan such as "Winnipeg Centennial" on the 1974 plate as illustrated below.

Cycling In Cinema: Pour un Mailot Jaune

1960s documentary on the Tour de France, without narration.

Pour Un Maillot Jaune is a documentary described as a cinematic tribute about the 1965 Tour de France. It was made by the French film director, Claude Lelouch. Lelouch is best known as the director of Un Homme et Une Femme (A Man and a Woman in English) in 1966.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLTvuIyEVMw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r22FfwWyHS8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19e7BKissRY