Like the DVD description claims, "One of the screen's great love stories, set to an unforgettable (Harold Rome) soundtrack in seductive Marseilles, will touch your heart with its charm, humor and timeless themes of young passion and yearning. Starring Leslie Caron at her most beautiful and French cinema icons Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier, this 'Academy Award'-nominated gem of filmmaking directed by Joshua Logan tells the story of a young man (Horst Buchholz) torn between his dream of an adventurous life at sea and staying behind with the girl he loves."

This is a condensed version of the Marcel Pagnol trilogy of French films from the 1930s, namely "Marius" (1931), "Fanny" (1932), and "Cesar" (1936), which Joshua Logan breathed new life into as the Broadway hit "Fanny" (1954) starring Florence Henderson. Mr. Logan dropped the stage musical's sing-a-longs, and brought his "Fanny" to the big screen. Thanks to exquisite location photography by Jack Cardiff, this is an excellent film. The four leads do very well in portraying the range of human interpersonal relations that made the original films so memorable.

It was startling to hear film expert and TCM host Ben Mankiewicz reveal that this version was now "widely considered the best" of several Pagnol adaptations. That is big news in filmdom. I still believe the original 1930s films are far more majestic in scope. However, with this cast and crew, Logan could have attempted a more sweeping saga. Portraying love and loyalty, Ms. Caron is beautiful and excellent throughout. The veterans, Mr. Chevalier and Mr. Boyer, do what good actors do when a rare good role presents itself late in a career; they are a French treat.

Most surprisingly effective is Mr. Buchholz - but after all, France and Germany are close. Buchholz would be considered the film's traditional leading man. Yet, the US "Academy Awards" nominated Boyer in the "Best Actor" category, while the "Golden Globe" nominators considered Chevalier to be the film's dramatic leading man. "Fanny" won a scattering of high critical honors, performing best in the annual "Film Daily" top fives, with high marks for the film (#4 for the year), Logan (#2 director), Caron (#4 "Best Actress"), and Boyer (#4 in the "Supporting Actor" category).

******* Fanny (6/28/61) Joshua Logan ~ Leslie Caron, Horst Buchholz, Maurice Chevalier, Charles Boyer

I was so glad to see so many reviewers say that this is their favorite movie of all time, because it is mine too -- but I always thought I was the only one who felt this way about it! A large part of my sentimental reaction to this movie comes from the fact that Charles Boyer looked so much like my father did at that age, and this was also the last video my dad and I watched together before he died. When Marius comes out of the café to go to sea, his father is standing on the waterfront watching the ship. There is a stunning fast zoom-in to the back of his father's head that stops my heart, not just because I feel Marius' shock at the realization that he will not see his father again for five years, but also because Boyer looks so much like my own father in that scene. Strangely, when my dad and I watched this together, he caught his breath at this same scene, and said that Boyer looked so much like HIS father!

When Marius says goodnight to his father (Boyer) the night before he plans to run away to sea, there is a beautiful scene in which Boyer is walking up the stairs, then turns and says to his son, "You know, I always tell you that you have ruined my life, but ..." at which point Boyer clutches his chest and becomes so choked up that he can barely continue, and croaks out the line, "it's not true!" It's the most touching, understated scene between a father and son I have ever seen in a movie. (Tragically, Boyer's own son committed suicide four years after this movie was made -- it makes me wonder whether the poignancy of his acting in this scene sprung from his real-life feelings about his own son.)

And who can forget the loving, gentle lecture he gives his son later, when he comes back from sea and wants to take his baby back from Panisse. Boyer tells him that "love is like cigarette smoke -- it doesn't weigh very much -- it takes a lot of love to make 23 pounds" and that Panisse gave the bulk of it to the baby.

And what about Cesar's (Boyer) math skills when he tries to show his son how to make a drink and tells him to use 1/3 each of four ingredients. When his son says, "but a glass only holds three thirds!" Boyer shouts, "It depends on the SIZE of the thirds!"

From start to finish, this film depicts the gentle pathos and kindness of people who all know and love each other (as Marius says, "people who maybe love me too much!"). There are no villains. Even when Panisse (Maurice Chevalier) storms out of the café in a huff, saying that his lifelong friend Cesar (Boyer) has insulted him and that he will never set foot in Cesar's café again -- when someone asks, "What about our card game tonight?" Panisse gives a typically Gallic shrug and replies, "But of course I will be back for that -- what has one thing to do with the other?"

A warm, funny, and amazingly insightful movie, and a rare opportunity to see two French greats -- Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier -- play off each other and steal scene after scene from the young people!