On 4/28/2020 4:03 PM, Bill Anderson wrote:
> On 4/21/2020 5:46 PM, Bill Anderson wrote:
>> The DVD arrived today. It’s another Marcel Pagnol movie that I really
>> wanted to watch, but I had to give up. It’s the problem Calvin Rice
>> described regarding his copy of FANNY: no shades of gray. The light
>> elements are washed-out white, and the darks are just black, and the
>> subtitles are illegible.  I also ordered a copy of the 1991 Daniel
>> Autueil Version, which seems to have become lost in the mail. This is
>> a big disappointment.
>>
>
> And now I have seen  the 1940 and 2011 versions of THE WELL-DIGGER'S
> DAUGHTER.
>
> It's a fine story, no real surprises, the same plot in both movies of
> course, all played out in Marcel Pagnol's trademark Provence. An humble
> well-digger, a widower, is raising five daughters, the oldest of whom
> goes a bit too far in celebrating her 18th birthday with a rich and
> handsome aviator, the son of a prominent local family. To his surprise,
> his Captain shows up later that evening and takes the young man away to
> war, leaving the girl behind and, as she discovers a couple of months
> later, pregnant.
>
> The bulk of the story focuses on familial traditions in Provence, how
> all this is handled, what a proud father must do with a wayward
> daughter, what happens to the baby, can the child really be allowed to
> take his maternal grandfather's name, do the paternal grandparents have
> any claims when they learn their son has died in combat and the
> grandchild they denied earlier is all they have left of him, and on and
> on. Family. Love, grief, new life, tradition, the important stuff.
>
> The 2011 version is gorgeously photographed in color, the acting and
> casting are superb, and the dialogue by Marcel Pagnol is reliably
> beautiful and moving. The newer version is terrific and I recommend it
> without reservation.
>
> The 1940 version I saw is a washed-out B&W print with English subtitles
> that fade into the scenery so completely they are often illegible. I had
> to watch the 2011 version first so I at least had an idea what was being
> said in the 1940 version. The plan worked pretty well, but still I was
> left disappointed often as major speeches were lost in the faded print.
> I could not recommend anyone watch the 1940 print of THE WELL-DIGGER'S
> DAUGHTER that I saw. I wouldn't have watched it all the way through
> either if I hadn't just a) paid for a copy; and b) decided to fight
> social distance boredom by comparing the two movies.
>
> The big difference I found between the two movies was in directorial
> technique. Director (and star) Daniel Auteuil's 2011 version played out
> much like any other modern movie with camera angles and editing and
> pacing that never drew attention to themselves. Marcel Pagnol's 1940
> version, on the other hand, was almost in-your-face odd at times. More
> than once he put his characters in a medium close-up and held it,
> steady, no cutting away, while discussions, arguments, solo speeches
> would go on for several minutes at a time. I think we're not accustomed
> to that style of filmmaking these days, but I have to say that while the
> shots did call attention to themselves, they worked just fine. They
> added to the charm of the movie. But...disappointment again...the
> subtitles for the well-digger's speech about his decision to exile his
> fallen daughter from the family were displayed over a white stone wall
> and I could read none of it. Too bad.
>
> Finally -- the actors. Everybody in the 2011 version was excellent, no
> complaints from me. The film's director, Daniel Autueil, also played the
> part of the well-digger to perfection. Just a wonderful performance.
>
> But there were three performances in the 1940 version that proved
> unforgettable. Raimu (Cesar from the Marseilles Trilogy) was the poor
> but proud well-digger Pascal Amoretti, and as in the earlier movies the
> play of emotions across his middle-aged face was a wonder to behold. He
> loves his daughter, he can't let her stay, he must cut off all contact,
> his heart is broken, he meets the baby, his resolve is broken... It's so
> well done.
>
> And then there's Charpin (M. Panisse from the Marseilles Trilogy) as the
> aviator's father, M. Mazel -- so dignified, so shocked, shocked in front
> of his wife that their son could have fathered a child (of course he
> knew about the boy's apartment in town), so distraught that with the
> death of his son the family line will come to an end, unless...the baby...
>
> Let's not forget Fernandel (M. Topaze from TOPAZE) who I liked much
> better in this movie. (Raimu, Charpin, Fernandel -- the French sure were
> stingy with their names.) His ugly mug proved perfectly suited to the
> part of the assistant well-digger Felipe who had to settle for daughter
> number two.
>
> Both versions of THE WELL-DIGGER'S DAUGHTER are fine movies, but I
> recommend you watch the 2011 version...unless you can find a restored
> 1940 version. Which reminds me: yesterday the postman delivered to my
> door a newly-restored Criterion Blu-Ray special edition of Marcel
> Pagnol's THE BAKER'S WIFE which I intend to watch ASAP. It's not like
> I've just discovered Pagnol -- I've known for years that his stuff was
> great. It's just that for some reason I seem to have a lot of time on my
> hands lately and I'm looking for interesting diversions and I'm finding
> Marcel Pagnol's work meets my needs just fine. I do love a good movie.
>

And now I have found a pristine version of the 1940 movie in crystal
clear B&W with totally legible subtitles. One scene jumped out at me
this time though, and it was so jarring that I'm not 100% sure it hadn't
been cut from the crappy version I saw before. The movie was released
in 1940 when the Nazis had taken France and Marcel Pagnol was doing
whatever he could to ensure his movie studio in Marseilles would not be
shut down. So I'm guessing that explains the moment in the film when the
townspeople gather around a radio to listen to Marshal Petain, elderly
hero of WWI, announce to the French people that France had been defeated
by Germany and he was going to lead the French collaborationist
government from Vichy. The characters took the news stoically and one
commented that they may have lost the war but their men fought bravely
so France could remain proud and blah blah blah. It seemed an odd moment
in an otherwise terrific family drama. Sign of the times.

--

Bill Anderson

I am the Mighty Favog