Directed by: Albert Mullens & Willy Mullens
This is one of the earliest films to come out of the Netherlands and was chosen by the Netherlands Film Festival to be among the 16 films of their Canon of Dutch Cinema (Canon van de Nederlandse Film) in 2007. It capitalized on the “chase film” craze (as we’ve seen in A Daring Daylight Robbery (1903) and The Great Train Robbery (1903)) and added a comedic twist to it – the inciting incident is not a robbery but a man who takes off his pants after they get wet on the beach (it was illegal to display one’s legs in public at the time). The situation played out with members of the public unaware that it was an act and thus parallels with contemporary prank shows and films such as Jackass, Subway Monkey Hour (2002) and Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2007) can be found. It ends with a procession through town – an absurd, over-the-top finale.
The production was fraught with problems, starting with their lead actor dropping out due to his fiancée finding it too risque (Willy Mullens had to step in himself) to real policemen finding little amusement in the events that unfolded and taking the crew to the police station. The film received free publicity due to the controversy surrounding its production and newspapers reporting the events as real. Truly, there is no such thing as bad publicity and the film went on to be a considerable success, even showing at Zandvoort’s own Olympia Circus Theater to a full room!
| The intertitles broadly translate as: Mijnheer van DOMMELEN was op zekeren middag in zijn strandstoel ingedut… …en de vloed kwam. Help! Help! ik verdrink! …en met muziek voorop… | Mister van DOMMELEN had fallen asleep in his beach chair one afternoon… …and the tide came in. Help! Help! I’m drowning! …and with music at the front… |
Bibliography
Ettleman, T. (2017). ‘The Mullens: The Jackasses of Pioneering Dutch Film’, Medium, 20 August. Available at: https://trettleman.medium.com/the-mullens-the-jackasses-of-pioneering-dutch-film-2ac1dea9f930 [Accessed: 3 February 2022].
IMDb contributors (n.d.). ‘De mésaventure van een Fransch heertje zonder pantalon aan het strand te Zandvoort (1905)’, IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1112865/ [Accessed: 3 February 2022].
JEC (2021). ‘De Mésaventure van een Fransch heertje zonder pantalon aan het strand te Zandvoort (1905) The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach‘, A Cinema History. Available at: http://www.acinemahistory.com/2021/04/de-mesaventure-van-een-fransch-heertje.html [Accessed: 3 February 2022].
Wikipedia contributors (2021). ‘Netherlands Film Festival’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 7 September. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands_Film_Festival [Accessed: 3 February 2022].
Wikipedia contributors (2022). ‘The Misadventure of a French Gentleman Without Pants at the Zandvoort Beach’, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 3 January. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Misadventure_of_a_French_Gentleman_Without_Pants_at_the_Zandvoort_Beach [Accessed: 3 February 2022].
Reel Lessons 