The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob

The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob (Les Aventures de Rabbi Jacob, 1973) is the classic French farce you can watch online on iFILM. Victor Pivert is a loud, bigoted factory owner who sorts the whole world into "us" and "them" — and Louis de Funès plays him at full, twitchy, irresistible volume.

On his way to his daughter's wedding, Victor is taken hostage by Slimane, an Arab rebel leader hunted by assassins from his own country. Dodging both the killers and a police force convinced Victor is a murderer, the mismatched pair disguise themselves as rabbis. Soon Victor is impersonating Rabbi Jacob himself, a beloved figure a Paris neighborhood is thrilled to welcome home after thirty years in America — while his dentist wife assumes he's run off with another woman.

Director Gérard Oury builds the chaos out of mistaken identities and giant set-piece gags, including a fight that ends in a vat of bubblegum. Under the slapstick sits a sharp jab at prejudice: the man who divides everyone into outsiders has to become one himself. Warm, fast and genuinely funny, it remains one of de Funès' best-loved films. Stream The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob online on iFILM.