Word: pagnol
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Fifteen years have passed; little Cesariot is now old enough to become a soldier, and Panisse is on his death-bed. That is the way things are as Marcel Pagnol begins "Cesar," the last part of his celebrated French trilogy of the Marsailles waterfront folks. "Marius" and "Fanny," the other two films dealing with the people, were perhaps funnier, for "Cesar" is more concerned with plot and its happy ending...
There is less of the late Raimu in "Cesar" than in the others. While this is regrettable (three will never be enough Raimu on film, anyhow), it at least shows how carefully M. Pagnol had planned his trilogy, and how little he cared for the "star system...
There is also less of Charpin, the great actor who plays Panisse. However, he figures prominently in the opening scenes of the movie which are concerned with his death. With Pagnol's perfect taste, understanding, and humor it is one of the most amusing scenes in the film...
Learning that Marius is his father and that his grandfather is the saloonkeeper. Cesariot sets out to find Marius in Toulon. Marius eventually returns to Fanny, patches up his quarrel with his father, Cesar, and M. Pagnol'e gentle tale of some rowdy folks peacefully ends...
...common in Europe to have one man both write the script and direct the film. (Rossellini and Pagnol are outstanding examples of the success of this method.) Well, somehow or other, a man named Joseph L. Mankiewiez convinced 20th Century Fox that he could do it too. "A Letter to Three Wives" is by no means a work of art; but it is very funny, and has some value as a critical commentary on the American Way of Life...