Marcel Pagnol

French filmmaker Marcel Pagnol began his career as an English teacher in the Marseilles region; in his free time he continued, as he had done since he was 15, to write plays. In 1922, he began teaching in Paris. While he'd had several of his plays produced in Marseilles, he was pleased and surprised to discover that Parisian theaters were also interested in his work; he soon abandoned teaching to become a full-time playwright. During the late '20s when his career was at its peak with plays such as Topaze and Marius, Pagnol decided to make 'talkies', and founded his own studio. As he regarded films as useful medium only for recording stage plays and making them available to a wider audience, Pagnol's films were straightforward chronicles of stage plays. Because he only recorded the best of the best from Southern France, his work was popular. In addition to directing and playwrighting, Pagnol also wrote screenplays for film adaptations of his plays for other directors such as Alexander Korda.

~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide