Cigalon

Production

Producer: Les Films Marcel Pagnol.
Script, dialogues and direction: Marcel Pagnol.
Visuals: Albert Assouad.
Sound: Jean Lecocq.
Editing: Suzanne de Troye.
Music: Vincent Scotto.
Studios: Marcel Pagnol in Marseille.
First public screening: Paris, December 11th, 1935 (second part to Merlusse).
Running time: 1h13.

Performers

Antoine Arnaudy - Cigalon
Henri Poupon - Le client
Madame Chabert - Madame Toffy
Jean Castan - Virgile, son neveu
Alida Rouffe - Sidonie
André Pollack - Le brigadier
Charles Blavette - Un gendarme
John Dubrou - Le petit

Story

Cigalon, a master chef, refuses to cook for customers he deems unworthy of his talent, until the day when...

Marcel Pagnol, unsatisfied with the first version of "CIGALON" which had been shot a few months before, undertook a new production in the glorious setting of La Treille, starring Arnaudy playing the title role.

By December 1935, he presented two medium-length films: the moving "MERLUSSE" and the second version of "CIGALON", a farcical fantasy. "Cigalon is related to my best memories of filmmaking. It makes me laugh until I cry. During screening for editing, almost all our laboratory staff would stop working to attend the screening and would laugh heartily. So we were sure the audience would give the film an ovation."
Marcel Pagnol.