''Harvest'' () is a 1937 French drama film directed by

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie française. Although his work is less fashionabl ...

, starring

Fernandel Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French actor and singer. Born near Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, an Occitan t ...

, Orane Demazis,

Marguerite Moreno Marguerite Moreno (born Lucie Marie Marguerite Monceau; 15 September 1871, Paris - 14 July 1948, Touzac, Lot) was a French stage and film actress. On 12 September 1900, in England, she married the writer Marcel Schwob, whom she had met in 1895 ...

and

Gabriel Gabrio Gabriel Gabrio (born Édouard Gabriel Lelièvre; 13 January 1887 – 31 October 1946) was a French stage and film actor whose career began in cinema in the silent film era of the 1920s and spanned more than two decades. Gabrio is possibly best re ...

. The narrative revolves around a farming village where only three inhabitants remain, but they are told that if only one of them, Panturle, manages to find a wife, the village will be able to prosper again. The film is based on the 1930 novel '' Second Harvest'' by

Jean Giono Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France. First period Jean Giono was born to a family of modest means, his father a cobbler of Piedmontese descent a ...

. It was released in France on 28 October 1937 and in the United States on 2 October 1939.

Cast

as Urbain Gédémus *

as Panturle * Orane Demazis as Irène Charles, "Arsule" *

as Zia Mamèche, "la Mamèche" *

Robert Le Vigan Robert Le Vigan (born Robert Coquillaud, January 7, 1900 – October 12, 1972), was a French actor. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1931 and 1943 almost exclusively in small or supporting roles. He was, according to film academic ...

as the brigadier * Henri Poupon as Panturle's farmer friend * Odette Roger as Alphonsine * Milly Mathis as Belline

Reception

Frank Nugent Frank Stanley Nugent (May 27, 1908 – December 29, 1965) was an American screenwriter, journalist, and film reviewer, who wrote 21 film scripts, 11 for director John Ford. He wrote almost a thousand reviews for ''The New York Times'' before lea ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' described ''Harvest'' as "a film of utter serenity and great goodness, so reverently played and so compassionately directed that it is far less an entertainment work than it is a testament to the dignity of man and to his consonance with the spinning of the spheres. Such faults as it possesses are mechanical; uneven editing, particularly in the early scenes; skimping of a few sequences that might have received more attention; attenuation of others that could have been cut. The flaws are obvious enough, yet they should not count too seriously against the work as a whole and still less seriously when one appreciates that the editing was on this side of the water (for space and time requirements) and cannot properly be held against Marcel Pagnol, its director, producer and adapter."

References

1937 films Films based on French novels Films based on works by Jean Giono Films directed by Marcel Pagnol Films set in France Films shot in France French drama films 1930s French-language films Films scored by Arthur Honegger 1937 drama films French black-and-white films 1930s French films {{1930s-France-film-stub

Cast

Reception

See also

References