The Jean Vigo Collection (2 disc Collector's Edition) [DVD],

Jean Vigo, considered to be one of the great masters of French cinema, only ever made four films owing to his premature death from tuberculosis aged just 29. Those four films are collected here. 'L'Atalante' (1934) is widely regarded as one of the most sensual love stories ever told on screen. The film tells the story of a river barge captain who marries a young country girl, Juliette (Dita Parl) and takes her with him aboard the barge, L'Atalante. His young wife soon grows restless and wishes to see Paris. The captain acquieses and takes Juliette to a cabaret in Paris where a peddler makes advances to her and arouses the husband's jealousy. When the peddler visits the ship, the captain angrily puts him off, and when his wife sneaks off to Paris he sets sail without her. It is up to Michel Simon as the drunken old first mate to make amends and find Juliette. 'Zéro de Conduite' (1933) is an anarchic film detailing the rebellion of a group of French schoolboys against the discipline and austerity of their squalid boarding school. Made a year before Vigo's final film 'L'Atalante', 'Zero de Conduite' was banned until 1945 and only recently restored. 'A Propos de Nice' (1929), Vigo's first film, is a witty and satirical documentary about the French coastal resort of Nice and its inhabitants. Finally, 'Taris' (1931) is an inventive portrait of the eponyomous French swimming champion.