Marcel Pagnol directed only one of his "Fanny Trilogy," as the films Marius, Fanny, and César are affectionately known, but he is the true auteur of all three films based on his plays. Like Sacha Guitry (whom we feature later this month), in attempting to disseminate his plays on the screen Pagnol created a unique style of cinema that transcends any notion of "filmed theater." As Jean-Pierre Gorin aptly put it, in 1931 "he invented for the French public ze talking picture." Never was talk so cinematic, so richly human as in these portraits of the inhabitants of the old port of Marseilles. The films are shot (and shot through) with a brilliant naturalism. The actors were trained by Pagnol in his robust caf'conc' style in which tragedy is never so tragic as to preclude a kind of low-key vaudeville. Marius establishes the characters of César (Raimu), philosopher-at-large and proprietor of a quayside bar; his son Marius (Pierre Fresnay), whose dreams of a life at sea blind him and finally bind him to the love of Fanny, the fish-monger (Orane Demazis); and Panisse (Charpin), a kindly widower who quotes poetry from face-cream pots and waits in the wings for Fanny's hand. Marius and Panisse's wishes are granted but it's no fairy tale. Note: The Fanny Trilogy is presented on consecutive Sundays. The films may be appreciated on their own or as a triptych.