Production
Several versions of the Pagnol works had been filmed prior to this adaptation. The original film trilogy in French was directed by Alexander Korda (Marius, 1931), Marc Allégret (Fanny, 1932) and Pagnol himself (César, 1936). There was a 1933 Italian film named Fanny, the 1934 German film Der Schwarze Walfisch ("The Black Whale"),, and Port of Seven Seas, a 1938 American film directed by James Whale, also based on the trilogy.
Jack Warner purchased the screen rights to the stage musical but eventually decided he wanted the film to exclude the songs because the popularity of movie musicals was on the wane. Released the same year as Fanny, West Side Story proved to be a box office hit.
Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein had collaborated with Joshua Logan on Tall Story the previous year, but he initially declined the director's offer to adapt Fanny for the screen because he found Marius' motivation for leaving Marseille difficult to believe. Only after Logan assured him he could take liberties with the original script did he accept the assignment. He relied on Pagnol's plays for inspiration, but retained the ending of the musical, which was quite different from the plot of Pagnol's original film César.
Prior to Warner's decision to film the property as a straight drama, Logan had offered Charles Boyer the role of César but the actor declined because he felt he could not sing and was unwilling to lip sync to someone else's voice. When the songs were dropped, he accepted the offer. He and Maurice Chevalier, cast as Panisse, were old friends but never had performed together, and both welcomed the opportunity to do so.
Audrey Hepburn agreed to portray Fanny but eventually had to decline the role due to prior commitments. Assuming the French would dislike an English language interpretation of the Pagnol plays, Leslie Caron was hesitant to replace her, but she liked the script and accepted three weeks before principal photography began.
Among the Marseille locations used for filming were Notre-Dame de la Garde and Vieux Port.
Read more about this topic: Fanny (1961 film)
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