Jour de fête (1949) [color + black & white]

Francois is a postal delivery man in a small French country town. He is often the center of attention in the town, which is not always a good thing. He tries to be helpful but most in town mock him behind his back. At the Bastille Day festivities in the town, he and the rest of the townsfolk view a movie on the efficiencies of the U.S. Postal Service, the service which has at their disposal airplanes and helicopters to deliver the mail. Francois is dismayed at how backward he sees the French Postal Service, he only having a bicycle as transport for his postal route. It is even a major process for his company to get him a replacement bicycle tire. Francois is obsessed with speeding up the delivery of at least the service on his route - doing it as well or even better than the Americans - with only his bicycle, his ingenuity and advice from the townsfolk to do so. His only goal is speed, this goal at any cost. As he implements his ideas, the townsfolk remark on how Francois is doing it "the American way."