"Pagnol simply was a leader of men, he knew how to persuade them. He would say: "Folks, we are going to do this!" and such "we are going to do this" was conclusive. None of us would ever imagine that "this" could possibly not be done. And we would do it. That is how Pagnol managed to obtain amazing feats from his actors and technicians. Marcel Pagnol commanded a team no other filmmaker in Europe will ever command.
If he had come to wake us up at any hour of the night, we would have agreed. For instance, we did not work on Sundays. Some of us wanted to go for a ride, others to go to the movies, and so on. Eventually, we would meet for lunch and start eating. Pagnol, brilliant talker as ever, would tackle a topic and, when we looked at the clock, it was half past midnight. Movies, ride, everything had been forgotten. Why? Because Pagnol was the magician. That's it."
Charles Blavette

Jofroi

Production

Producer: Les Auteurs Associés.
Script, dialogues and direction: Marcel Pagnol, after the short story by Jean Giono, "Jofroi de la Maussan".
Production Manager: René Pagnol.
Visuals: Willy Faktorovitch.
Set: Jean Bijon.
Sound: Pierre Calvet.
Music: Vincent Scotto.
Editing: Suzanne de Troye and André Robert.
First public screening: Paris, January 1934.
Running time: 48 minutes.

Performers

Vincent Scotto - Jofroi
Annie Toinon - Barbe, sa femme
Henri Poupon - Fonse
Odette Roger - Marie, sa femme
André Robert - L'instituteur
José Tyrand - Le curé
Charles Blavette - Tonin
Henri Darbrey - Le notaire

Story

Jofroi, an ageing farmer, has sold his orchard in La Maussan to Fonse. When the latter comes to cut the old trees down, Jofroi wants to kill him.
Soon, everyone in the village is deeply distressed...