Marius | |
---|---|
Directed by | Alexander Korda |
Written by | Marcel Pagnol |
Based on | Marius 1929 play by Marcel Pagnol |
Produced by | Robert Kane Marcel Pagnol |
Starring | Raimu Pierre Fresnay Orane Demazis Fernand Charpin Alida Rouffe Paul Dullac Alexandre Mihalesco Robert Vattier Édouard Delmont Milly Mathis Marcel Maupi |
Cinematography | Theodore J. Pahle |
Edited by | Roger Mercanton |
Music by | Francis Gromon |
Distributed by | Les Films Paramount |
Release date |
|
Running time | 127 minutes |
Country | France |
Language | French |
Marius is a 1931 French drama film directed by Alexander Korda. It is based on the 1929 play of the same title by Marcel Pagnol. The film is a part of the Marseille Trilogy which includes the films Fanny (Marius's ex-fiancée) and César (Marius's father). The film was selected to be screened in the Cannes Classics section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. [1] The restored film was also given a limited re-release in the United States by Janus Films on 4 January 2017, first premiering at Film Forum. [2]
The film was made by Korda for the French subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. A separate Swedish-language version Longing for the Sea by John W. Brunius was also released in 1931 and a German-language version The Golden Anchor , also directed by Korda, was released the following year.
The film takes place mostly in the waterfront bar of César, Marius's father. Marius works in the bar and his good friend since childhood, Fanny, works outside the bar selling cockles. Marius has a hidden desire to travel to exotic places with the ship crews that depart from the docks of Marseille. This desire becomes exposed when a rich older man (Panisse) proposes to Fanny and Marius gets jealous. Marius' jealousy of Panisse is the first indication of the secret feelings that he has for her, but much to his surprise, the feelings are reciprocated by Fanny. She confesses that she loves Marius prompting him to reveal his plans of traveling the world to her, noting that being the wife of a man at sea is not a desirable life. After a few nights, it is discovered that they have slept together and Marius's father and Fanny's mother convince him to marry her. Marius becomes noticeably melancholy after proposing to Fanny until a few days later, the date of departure of a boat on which Marius was supposed to crew. Fanny, realizing that Marius is not truly happy being with her, decides to encourage him to leave. She helps distract his father while Marius sneaks onto the boat.
An audio cast recording of select scenes, with minor rewritings, was made at the studios Pelouze in Paris in March 1932 and on 2 and 14 December 1933 for Columbia Records by the main cast (Fresnay, Demazis, Raimu, Charpin, Dullac, Vattier, Henri Vilbert). It was later re-issued on compact disc. [3]
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "La leçon de bistrot" (The Bartending Lesson) | 03:11 |
2. | "Le retour de M. Brun" (Monsieur Brun’s Return) | 03:15 |
3. | "Je sors" (I’m Going Out) | 02:58 |
4. | "Pauvre Félicité" (Poor Félicité) | 03:13 |
5. | "Je t’aime bien, Papa" (I Like You Very Much, Papa) | 06:33 |
6. | "La partie de cartes" (The Card Game) | 06:11 |
7. | "Le petit déjeuner et l’histoire de Zoé" (The Breakfast and Zoé’s Story) | 05:57 |
In 1960, Pagnol’s distribution company, the Compagnie méditerranéenne de films, published the film soundtrack on disc, interspersed with narrative comments and descriptions spoken by Pagnol. In complement came a reading of his preface to the play written for the publication of his complete works, later collected in the volume Confidences in 1981; and of recollections about the production of the film, later published as part of the augmented edition of his 1934 essay Cinématurgie de Paris. It was re-issued on CD by Frémeaux & Associés, in their “Librairie sonore” series. [4]
Marcel Paul Pagnol was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionable than it once was, Pagnol is still generally regarded as one of France's greatest 20th-century writers and is notable for the fact that he excelled in almost every medium—memoir, novel, drama and film.
Jules Auguste Muraire, whose stage name was Raimu, was a French actor. He is most famous for playing César in the 'Marseilles trilogy'.
Fanny is a 1961 American Technicolor romantic drama film directed by Joshua Logan. The screenplay by Julius J. Epstein is based on the book for the 1954 stage musical of the same title by Logan and S.N. Behrman, which in turn had been adapted from Marcel Pagnol's trilogy. Pagnol wrote two plays, Marius (1929) and Fanny (1931) and completed the cycle by writing and directing a film, César, in 1936. Meanwhile, Marius (1931) and Fanny (1932) were also produced as films.
Pierre Fresnay was a French stage and film actor.
Asterix and the Banquet is the fifth volume of the Asterix comic book series, by René Goscinny (stories) and Albert Uderzo (illustrations). It was first serialized in Pilote magazine, issues 172–213, in 1963.
The Baker's Wife is a 1938 French drama film directed by Marcel Pagnol. It is based on the novel Blue Boy by French author Jean Giono and became the basis of the American musical The Baker's Wife.
Fanny is a musical with a book by S. N. Behrman and Joshua Logan and music and lyrics by Harold Rome. A tale of love, secrets, and passion set in and around the old French port of Marseille, it is based on Marcel Pagnol's trilogy of works titled Marius (1929), Fanny (1931), and César (1936).
Port of Seven Seas is a 1938 American drama film starring Wallace Beery and featuring Frank Morgan and Maureen O'Sullivan. The movie was written by Preston Sturges based on the plays of Marcel Pagnol and the films based on them, and was directed by James Whale, the director of Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933). The cinematography is by Karl Freund, who filmed Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927) and I Love Lucy (1951-1957).
Fanny is a 1932 French romantic drama film directed by Marc Allégret and starring Orane Demazis, Raimu and Alida Rouffe. It is based on the 1931 play by Marcel Pagnol. It is the second part of the Marseillaise film trilogy that begins with Marius (1931) and concludes with César (1936). Like Marius, the film was a box office success in France and is still considered to be a classic of French cinema. It was shot at the Billancourt Studios in Paris and on location in Marseille. The film's sets were designed by the art director Gabriel Scognamillo.
César is a 1936 French film, written and directed by Marcel Pagnol. It is the final part of his Marseille trilogy, which began with the film Marius and was followed by Fanny. Unlike the other two films in the trilogy, César was not based on a play by Pagnol, but written directly as a film script. In 1946 Pagnol adapted the script as a stage play.
Édouard Delmont was a French actor born Édouard Marius Autran in Marseille. He died in Cannes at age 72.
Fernand Charpin was a French actor. He is known for his role as Honoré Panisse in Marcel Pagnol's Marseille trilogy, beginning with Marius in 1931.
Orane Demazis was a French actress.
Marius et Fanny is an opera in two acts composed by Vladimir Cosma. The libretto by Michel Lengliney, Jean-Pierre Lang, Michel Rivegauche, Antoine Chalamel, Michel Arbatz and Vladimir Cosma is based on Marcel Pagnol's stage and film trilogy Marius, Fanny and César. The opera premiered on 4 September 2007 at the Opéra de Marseille with Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in the title roles.
Alida Rouffe (1874–1949) was a French actress.
Heartbeat is a 1938 French comedy film directed by Marcel Pagnol and starring Fernandel, Orane Demazis and Fernand Charpin. It was remade in 1999 as Le schpountz, directed by Gérard Oury.
The Golden Anchor is a 1932 German-French drama film directed by Alexander Korda and starring Albert Bassermann, Ursula Grabley, and Mathias Wieman. It is the German-language version of Marius (1931), based on Marcel Pagnol's play of the same title. Such multi-language versions were common during the early years of sound. It was made at the Joinville Studios by the European branch of Paramount Pictures.
Marius is a 1929 play by the French writer Marcel Pagnol. It takes place in Marseilles, where a young man named Marius working in a café dreams of going to sea, his obsession eventually overcoming his developing romance with Fanny, a local girl.
Fanny is a 1931 play by the French writer Marcel Pagnol. It is the sequel to the 1929 play Marius and the second part in Pagnol's Marseilles trilogy.
Longing for the Sea is a 1931 French-Swedish drama film directed by John W. Brunius and starring Edvin Adolphson, Carl Barcklind and Inga Tidblad. It is the Swedish-language version of the French film Marius directed by Alexander Korda and based on the 1929 play play of the same title by Marcel Pagnol. It was shot at the Joinville Studios in Paris and on location in Marseilles. The film's sets were designed by the art director Vincent Korda.