Marius (1931 film)

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]

Marius
Directed byAlexander Korda
Produced byRobert Kane, Marcel Pagnol
Written byMarcel Pagnol
Based onMarius
by Marcel Pagnol
StarringRaimu
Pierre Fresnay
Orane Demazis
Fernand Charpin
Alida Rouffe
Paul Dullac
Alexandre Mihalesco
Robert Vattier
Édouard Delmont
Milly Mathis
Marcel Maupi
Music byFrancis Gromon
CinematographyTheodore J. Pahle
Edited byRoger Mercanton
Distributed byLes Films Paramount
Release date
  • 10 October 1931 (1931-10-10)
Running time
127 minutes
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench

The film was made by Korda for the French subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. A separate Swedish-language version Längtan till havet 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.

Synopsis

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.

Cast (in credits order)
  • Port of Seven Seas is James Whale's remake of Marius and Fanny.[3]
  • The famed restaurateur and founder of California cuisine, Alice Waters, was so taken by this film that she named her Berkeley restaurant "Chez Panisse". The café upstairs from the restaurant is decorated with posters from the films Marius, Fanny, and César.[4]
  • The main characters from the films Marius, Fanny and César make a cameo appearance in the Asterix comic book Asterix and the Banquet. The card playing scene in the comic book is a reference to a similar scene in this film.[5][6]

References
  1. "Cannes Classics 2015". Cannes Film Festival. 29 April 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  2. Srisavasdi, Greg (3 January 2017). "Marcel Pagnol's 'Marseille Trilogy' Hits The Film Forum". Hollywood Outbreak. Hollywood Outbreak. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
  3. "Port of Seven Seas (1938) - IMDb". Akas.imdb.com. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  4. "Fanny (1932)". Retrieved 16 March 2018 – via www.imdb.com.
  5. Rivière, Stéphane. "Les allusions dans Astérix : Marcel Pagnol". www.mage.fst.uha.fr. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  6. "Astérix – Page introuvable". www.asterix.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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