Pagnol, Marcel (Paul) (1895–1974)

French film director, producer, writer, and dramatist. His work includes the novels Fanny (1932; filmed 1961) and Manon des sources (1952; filmed 1986). His autobiographical La Gloire de mon père/My Father's Glory (1957) was filmed in 1991. He regarded the cinema as recorded theatre; thus his films, although strong on character and background, fail to exploit the medium fully as an independent art form.