Fanny (1961)

Marius (Horst Buckholz) is in a rut. Longing to go to sea and experience life outside of Marseille, he finds he must sneak away from his father who plans for him to take over the café he owns. There is also the problem of Fanny (Leslie Caron), the girl he loves. The night before he is to leave Fanny reveals that she is in love with him. Now he must choose between an exciting life at sea or the life his father has planned for him with the woman he loves by his side. Fanny too must choose between keeping the man she loves or letting him live the life he wants.

Despite the beautiful, bright colors of the scenery, tastefully done by Technicolor (a nice surprise!) and the colorful characters living among it, Fanny is full of some very tender and sentimental moments as well as some great performance from Caron, Boyer, and Chevalier. This was my first Leslie Caron movie and she didn’t disappoint. Her ability to so seamlessly play such a multi-layered ingénue (at age 30 to boot!) with those blue soulful eyes is praise-worthy. It was bittersweet to see Chevalier in this film because I am used to seeing him in the more light-hearted roles of the thirties and forties and as always, it’s difficult to watch an actor in his autumn years discussing his autumn years.  

Fun fact:
Ironically, Warner decided not to have Fanny be a musical onscreen. Convinced that musicals were on the wane, he must have felt foolish when Fanny lost out to West Side Story. However, he made up for it with My Fair Lady three years later.

Tonight on TCM! It's got Ray Milland therefore it must be watched!
Ministry Of Fear (1944) When hidden microfilm comes into his possession, an innocent man is drawn into espionage. Cast: Ray Milland, Marjorie Reynolds, Dan Duryea. Dir: Fritz Lang.