Marcel Pagnol, who meets up again here with his master Alphonse Daudet, intended to shoot a series of "LETTERS". He started with "LES TROIS MESSES BASSES" ("THE THREE LOW MASSES"), "L'ELIXIR DU PERE GAUCHER" ("THE ELIXIR OF FATHER GAUCHER") and "LE SECRET DE MAÎTRE CORNILLE" ("THE SECRET OF MASTER CORNILLE"), in 1954. Those are the most provençal letters of the series. Only in 1967 did he direct "LE CURÉ DE CUCUGNAN" ("THE PRIEST OF CUCUGNAN") for television screening, which ended his film adaptation of the "LETTERS".

Les Lettres de mon moulin ("Letters From My Windmill"): Les trois messes basses ("The Three Low Masses")

Production

Producer: Compagnie Méditerranéenne de Films.
Production manager: Jo Martinetti.
Script, dialogues and direction: Marcel Pagnol, (after the book by Alphonse Daudet).
Visuals: Willy Faktorovitch.
Set: Robert Giordani and Jean Mandaroux.
Music: Henri Tomasi.
Editing: Monique Lacombe and Jeannette Rongier.
First public screening: Paris, November 1954.
Running time: 160 minutes.

Performers

Henri Vilbert - Dom Balaguère
Marcel Daxely - Garigou
René Sarvil - Clovis, le cuisinier

Story

On Christmas eve, pressed by the Devil under the appearance of his altar boy, Dom Balaguère skips the three low masses with an eye to a Christmas dinner flavored with truffles...