Marius

Cesar has a bar on the Marseille waterfront and his son Marius works there. Marius is twenty three and spends the day looking at the ships leaving the port; all he wants is to board one and go. Fanny sells shellfish on the same quay and the two have known each other since childhood. She loves him and is waiting for it. Panisse, the old sailmaker, is also courting Fanny. Marius finds a place on a ship and the sailing date is set. He tells nobody. Fanny finds out and has to make a decision. Alexander Korda directs. The screenplay is from Marcel Pagnol's own play. Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis and Fernand Charpin are in the cast. It is a French production. The film is the first link of Pagnol's Marseille trilogy and two further films followed. It was made in the first years of sound; the narrative comes from the stage and rests on dialogue. The father played by Raimu is counted among the most remembered parts in French cinema. The matter it treats is going against staying; the film puts neither of them in the right. The card game in the bar is its best known passage. The narrative uses the speech of Marseille and the life of the port as they are. The film does not turn the love into melodrama and shows the selfishness of its characters. The ending closes on a parting and requires the sequel. Its limit is age; the camera is fixed, the scenes long, and the pace very slow. Who it is for: viewers who like French cinema of the early sound period. Who it is not for: it is dated, talky, and the ending rueful.