Fanny (1932)

Director:

Marc Allégret

Writers:

Marcel Pagnol (play)
Marcel Pagnol (screenplay)

Release Date:

12 February 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

Marius has left, signed up for a five year hitch on a ship bound for the Indian Ocean. In his few letters to his father César...

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title | Cafe | Marseilles France | Sailor | Provence

Cast

Raimu	...	César
Pierre Fresnay	...	Marius
Orane Demazis	...	Fanny
Fernand Charpin	...	Honore Panisse
Auguste Mouriès	...	Félix Escartefigue (as Mouriès)
Robert Vattier	...	Albert Brun
Marcel Maupi	...	Innocent Mangiapan chauffeur du ferry-boat
Alida Rouffe	...	Honorine Cabanis
Milly Mathis	...	Tante Claudine Foulon
Odette Roger	...	Fortunette
Louis Boulle	...	Elzéar
Édouard Delmont	...	Dr. Felicien Venelle
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
André Gide
Pierre Prévert	...	Un voyageur du tramway
Annie Toinon	...	Amélie

Runtime:

140 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company:

Les Films Marcel Pagnol

Trivia:

Famed restaurateur and founder of California cuisine, Alice Waters, was so taken with the Fanny trilogy that she named her Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse. The café upstairs from the restaurant is decorated with posters from the films Marius, Fanny, and César.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Port of Seven Seas (1938)

A sequel that doesn't live up to the first installment

I've watched this movie several times now, each time hoping I will like it more than the time before. But that doesn't happen. The first movie in the so-called Marseilles Trilogy, Marius (1931), is one of the masterpieces of world cinema, and not surprisingly one of the most beloved of French movies by the French. This movie, based on Pagnol's sequel play of the same name, has much more melodrama and much less humor than Marius, and frankly, the melodrama is not good melodrama (whatever that would be). The scene between Panisse and Fanny, when he explains why he will marry her even though she is pregnant by another man (Marius), is moving and funny. The final scene is interesting for the definition of fatherhood that it puts forward. There are interesting moments here and there throughout the movie. But the whole falls far short of Marius, and too often comes off as just another 1930s movie melodrama. If you liked Marius - and how could you not? - you would want to see this, but don't get your expectations up too high. More's the shame.