Marcel Pagnol's 125th Birthday

Google Dooles 28.02.2020 01:07  Date: February 28, 2020 Today’s Doodle celebrates the 125th birthday of French filmmaker, playwright, and novelist Marcel Pagnol, often revered as one of the greatest figures in the history of French cinema. With his evocative, realist style, Pagnol painted a heartfelt and comical portrait of everyday French life, influencing generations of filmmakers in the process. Marcel Paul Pagnol was born on this day in 1895 in the town of Aubagne, just outside of Marseilles in Southern France. He followed in the footsteps of his father, a local school superintendent, and pursued a career in education. In between lessons, Pagnol worked on his own plays, novels, and poetry, and when his comedic drama “Topaze” became a major hit on the Paris stage, he retired from teaching for good. Establishing himself as an eminent playwright during cinema’s transformation from silent films to the sound era, Pagnol recognized a new world of opportunity in adapting his stories to the silver screen. By 1931, he had produced his first film, “Marius,” the leading installment of his famous “Marseilles” trilogy, which centered around life in the port town of his birth. Credited as a pioneer of the neo-realist movement, Pagnol went on to direct and produce a collection of award-winning films, helping to shape French cinema’s golden decade of the 1930s and ‘40s. In recognition of his contributions, in 1946, Pagnol became the first filmmaker ever elected as a member of the distinguished Acádemie française , France’s official authority on the French language. Early concepts and drafts of the Doodle Location: Tags: , , , , , , ,