César (1936) - a photo on Flickriver

César (1936)

French postcard by Jean Dubout, Paris, 2006, D 3. Poster design by Albert Dubout (1950) for a re-issue of César (Marcel Pagnol, 1936), written by Marcel Pagnol.

The French melodrama César (Marcel Pagnol, 1936) forms the third and final part of the film adaptation of the Marseilles trilogy. The first two parts, Marius (1931) and Fanny (1932) were originally written for the stage by Marcel Pagnol. The third part was written and filmed directly for the big screen by Pagnol himself. The film enjoyed considerable popular success. Only ten years later, it was also staged.

In César (1936) twenty years have passed since Marius (Pierre Fresnay) left Marseille. Césariot, the son of Fanny and Marius, was lovingly adopted by Panisse (Charpin), the wealthy and much older sailmaker whom Fanny (Orane Démazis) married after Marius' departure. Césariot, meanwhile, completed brilliant studies at the École Polytechnique. Panisse is dying but cannot bring himself to tell Césariot that he is not his real father. After he dies, his widow Fanny confesses to her son that Marius is his biological father. Marius is the son of barman César (Raimu), Césariot's godfather. Césariot (André Fouché) gets confused because Marius has always been portrayed as a marginal who fled Marseille years ago. He wants to know the ins and outs of it, so he sets off on an investigation to Toulon where Marius runs a garage. He tries to meet his father incognito.

Marcel Pagnol recounted that, stuck halfway through the script, he found inspiration again by improvising his story for an old lady, Mrs Gaucherand, an elder sister of an antique dealer in the Old Port who supplied the team with props. She did not want to die without knowing the outcome of the story. Ignoring realism, Pagnol set the plot twenty years later and introduced Marius and Fanny's son, Césariot, among the main characters. The film was released in 1936, four years after Fanny. To come full circle, Pagnol adapted his screenplay for the stage. The play, the first adaptation of a film for the stage, premiered in 1946 at the Théâtre des Variétés where 'Marius' and 'Fanny' had been revived in 1942-1943. While Orane Demazis, Maupi, Milly Mathis and Robert Vattier played the roles that had made them famous for the last time, Alida Rouffe and Pierre Fresnay, who were unavailable, were replaced by Marguerite Chabert and Henri Alibert. The role of Césariot was given to the young Raymond Pellegrin, whom Pagnol had just cast in 'Naïs'. The premiere was mourned by Raimu's death in September of the same year, which Henri Vilbert was unable to make forget.

Sources: Wikipedia (Dutch, French and English) and IMDb.

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Taken on: February 5, 2024

Tags:

César

1936

Affiche

Poster

Albert Dubout

1950

Film

Cinema

Cine

Kino

Picture

Screen

Movie

Movies

Vintage

Postcard

Jean Dubout

Dubout

Pierre Fresnay

Fresnay

Charpin « less

Sets appears in: • Marcel Pagnol • Film posters

Groups appears in: • Postcards • French-Français more » • Vintage Postcards • Postcards Vintage • Movie_Posters • I Love Postcards! • Movie & TV Show Postcards • Movie Postcards • Actors& Actress • Anything Movies • European Film Star Postcards • We are Cinema • Vintage, but Ageless • MOVIE STAR MONDAY « less

Stats: 1,474 views