Marius (1931)

Marius is faced with a choice whether to fulfill his passion by sailing the seas or stay and marry the woman he loves.

Director:

Alexander Korda (as Alexandre Korda)

Writers:

Marcel Pagnol (play), Marcel Pagnol (screenplay)

Stars:

Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Fernand Charpin

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Raimu	...	César Olivier
Pierre Fresnay	...	Marius
Fernand Charpin	...	Honoré Panisse (as Charpin)
Alida Rouffe	...	Honorine Cabanis
Paul Dullac	...	Félix Escartefigue
Alexandre Mihalesco	...	Piquoiseau (as Mihalesco)
Robert Vattier	...	Albert Brun
Édouard Delmont	...	Le Goelec
Orane Demazis	...	Fanny

Storyline

César runs a bar along Marseilles' port, assisted by his 23 year old son, Marius. Colorful characters abound: M. Panisse, an aging widower and prosperous sail maker; Honorine, a fishmonger with a sidewalk stall near the bar; her daughter, Fanny, who helps her sell cockles; and, various old salts. Friends since childhood, Fanny and Marius love each other, but Marius has a secret wanderlust: every ship's whistle stirs a longing for foreign lands. When M. Panisse seeks Fanny's hand in marriage and when a departing clipper needs a deckhand, Marius and Fanny must decide who and what they love most. César, with his generous, comic spirit, tries to guide his son.

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Plot Keywords:

ship | love | wanderlust | fishmonger | widower | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

13 April 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Marios

Filming Locations:

Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Les Films Marcel Pagnol

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min 120 min (TCM print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film underwent a restoration in 2015, through the Compagnie Méditerranéenne de Film and the Cinémathèque Française, with the support of the CNC, the Franco-American Cultural Fund, TV channel Arte and The Audiovisual Archives of the Principality of Monaco.

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Goofs

(at around 11 mins) Honorine (Alida Rouffe) is talking with César. She puts her glass on the table, but after a cut, she put the same glass again on the table.

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Connections

Version of Längtan till havet (1931)

User Reviews

A true masterpiece

I don't know how much new I have to say about this movie that others have not said already. I have watched this movie over and over, I have had the pleasure of teaching it in a French literature and culture course. Every time I watch it I marvel at how well it is done. The acting is uniformly excellent - but then, these actors had performed the play from which this movie was drawn hundreds of times and had been hand-picked by Pagnol. They will definitely strike modern audiences as theatrical, but that is one of the points Pagnol was making about the people of Marseille: they were fond of drama and "performed" in life. The script is clever, and sometimes hilarious. Scenes like 1) César teaching Marius how to make a mandarin-citron (a drink); 2) César, Panisse, Escartefigue, and M Brun playing a round of cards with César cheating; 3) Marius fuming when Panisse makes passes at Fanny in the bar; and many others are even funnier the 10th time than the first. The music is wonderful. In short, this movie is a marvel, full of acting gems. See it!