Series Site
Playwright Marcel Pagnol, decisively moving from stage to screen at the advent of sound, became immediately one of the most distinctive voices in French cinema, bringing the authentic warmth, sound, and atmosphere of the Midi to the screen, transcending the accusation of “canned theater” with his all-location filming, eventually becoming the first man of the cinema elected to the French Academy. The translation of his trilogy from stage to screen, moving in the process from scripter to his own director made his work world-famous (if belatedly in the US—censorship kept it from distribution here for a decade). But his magnificent stock company can be considered perhaps equal collaborators, headed by the monstre sacré Raimu, (named in his time the greatest actor of them all by Arletty, Marlene Dietrich, Zero Mostel, and Orson Welles) as César; Orane Demazis as Fanny; Pierre Fresnay (Grand Illusion) as Marius; and Charpin as Panisse. Spend six hours in Provence for “truth to life and boundless humanity” (Time Out)." - Film Forum