And Stereophonic Sound….The Way It Was Meant To Be Seen! This was originally how Logan wanted to release his 1961 film adaptation of Marcel Pagnol’s famous trilogy which included Marius, Fanny and César. Luckily, someone pointed out to him the humorous allusion he was making unintentionally and his movie appeared on marquees as simply FANNY. It might have sold more tickets if he’d called it Leslie Caron’s FANNY but at least in France there was nothing funny about the name. It was in their cultural DNA and was a name with a beloved literary pedigree that went all the way back to 1929 when Pagnol first premiered his play Marius which introduced his colorful cast of characters from the Marseilles waterfront.

I once attempted to watch the entire Pagnol trilogy (Kino International still offers it as a DVD box set) but couldn’t make it past Marius. While the film had a naturalistic quality that was rare for an early thirties studio film, it was still too theatrical for my taste and so immersed in the cultural and social detail of Marseilles life – something I knew nothing about – that my appreciation of it was limited to say the least. So of course I had no desire to see an American director’s interpretation of it in an English language adaptation. I also was not that fond of Leslie Caron’s earlier work. My idea of hell is to have my eyes pinned open like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange and forced to watch Gigi repeatedly…or Lili. 

Despite all of this, I found myself watching FANNY on DVD recently (it was been remastered and released in a double-disc edition by Image Entertainment) because I was curious to see why Robert Osborne had selected it for inclusion in the current season of The Essentials on TCM. And because my wife had seen it as a teenager, leading to a lifelong crush on Horst Buchholz. I figured I’d bale after the first ten minutes and leave Beth to it but instead I was sucked in almost immediately. First, there is the stunningly beautiful on-location cinematography by Jack Cardiff which was nominated for an Oscar. That alone doesn’t always justify a viewing but in this instance the setting is crucial to the story – it’s a major supporting character -  and Cardiff vividly brings it to life.

I also had preconceptions about the performances, particularly Maurice Chevalier’s and Charles Boyer’s, imagining the worst. Chevalier, who always seemed to be playing some caricatured image of a Parisian bon vivant in his American films, drops the artiface here and gives a surprisingly realistic and moving performance. And so does Boyer. Then there’s Leslie Caron who is no longer the gamine with the pixie cut but a sensuous and vibrant presence. Even Horst Buchholz, who had a tendency to overplay his “German James Dean” image, makes Marius a sympathetic character despite the selfishness of youth.

My biggest obstacle to enjoying the film, however, was what I knew of the plot which sounded like a trite, sentimental and completely cliched storyline, a French provincial soap opera. But once you start watching FANNY you realize it is a tale that goes beyond cliché. It’s almost primeval in the way it evokes strong emotional responses from the viewer because it is about a wide array of human bonds. The ones that exist between a daughter and mother, between a father and son, between young lovers who have the same passion but not the same dream, between lifelong friends who have shared each other’s joys and tragedies. The Marseilles waterfront becomes a microcosm of human experience from the cradle to the grave and it rings true in those moments when the main characters have to face the consequences of the decisions they’ve made. 

The 1961 film version of FANNY was actually based on the stage musical which was adapted from Pagnol’s trilogy by Logan, S.N. Behrman and Harold Rome (who wrote the music and lyrics) and condensed the three stories into one, taking some liberties with the story arc and the sequencing of events. Logan’s film version strayed even further from the stage musical because all the songs were dropped. Part of this decision was due to the casting of Charles Boyer who refused to sing or be lip-synched with someone else’s voice. And Logan felt he was crucial to the film’s success and wouldn’t replace him. In addition, Warner executives felt that movie musicals were no longer popular and were losing money at the boxoffice. 

At any rate, the film’s storyline can be reduced to this simple outline: Marius longs to leave his waterfront home that has become a prison for him. His father César expects him to take over the family café and has no idea of the intensity of his son’s wanderlust. Fanny, the daughter of Honorine, a lifelong friend of César’s, is in love with Marius but realizes his urge for going is unstoppable. On the eve of his departure from Marseilles as a deckhand on a ship, Marius and Fanny spend the night together. She later discovers she’s pregnant and her mother, at first scandalized, encourages her to be more receptive to Panisse, César’s closest friend and a wealthy shopkeeper who has always adored Fanny. Resigned to her fate, Fanny marries Panisse and has her child, a son, Cesario. Even though Panisse is aware that Marius is the real father, he raises Cesario as his own child. Then Marius returns from the sea, filled with regret for the past and the life he could have had.

The resolution of the movie copied the ending of the stage musical but was a departure from the original Pagnol trilogy. While it is a happy ending in the best tradition of Hollywood movies, what you’ll remember most is everything that transpires before that which mirrors real lives in flux with all the attendant disappointments, dashed dreams and compromises. It is this sense of underling sadness and romantic longing mixed with a type of madcap bohemian French humor (the scenes with Panisse’s friends featuring an unexpectantly hilarious Lionel Jeffries) that makes FANNY a richer viewing experience than I’d ever imagined. Also, Harold Rome’s evocative music, scored by Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman, adds immeasurably to the mood of the film. It was also nominated for an Oscar (The film garnered 5 nominations in all including Best Picture but didn’t win in any category). 

The universal appeal of FANNY makes me think that the storyline could easily be adapted to other cultures and locales. I can imagine a version set in another port city – New Orleans, post-Katrina, for example – in which the background is not the shipping industry but the music scene. The cast would be multiracial and Marius would be a young, undiscovered musical talent, popular in his home town, but unknown outside it. And the lure of New York or Los Angeles would pull him away from taking over his father’s famous seafood restaurant. Maybe Spike Lee could direct it and release it under the title Spike Lee’s FANNY…or maybe not.