AWARDS & HONORS

Fanny was listed among the year's ten best in The New York Times and placed tenth in the National Board of Review's. rankings.

The film picked up four Golden Globe nominations -- Best Motion Picture - Drama; Best Motion Picture Actor - Drama (Chevalier), Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama (Leslie Caron) and Best Motion Picture Score (Harold Rome). It lost in all four categories.

Fanny also picked up nominations from the Directors and Writers Guilds.

The Oscar® nominations proved to be a major letdown for the cast and crew of Fanny. Although the film picked up five nominations, including Best Actor, the nominee for that award was Charles Boyer, not Chevalier. The other nominations were for Best Picture, Cinematography, Film Editing and Score (with the credited Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman listed). It lost in every category.

THE CRITICS' CORNER - FANNY (1961)

"Through Logan's delicate direction, the combination of profoundly touching pathos and lusty sense of humor is blended into a film rich in humanity and pictorial beauty, though perhaps not quite so spontaneously merry and charmingly supple as the superb trilogy that preceded it by so many yeas."
- Tube., Variety

"We can all breathe more easily this morning -- more easily and joyously, too -- because Joshua Logan has turned the stage show, Fanny, into a delightful and heart-warming film....For Mr. Logan, with the aid of expert craftsmen and a cast of principals that we do not believe an act of divine cooperation could have greatly improved upon, has given the charming Marseilles folk play a stunning pictorial sweep, a deliciously atmospheric flavor and a flesh-touching intimacy."
- Bosley Crowther, The New York Times

"It's always a pleasure to watch Chevalier work, especially in a straight role without songs. And to watch Leslie Caron, who is maturing in an intelligent way, and one which augurs well for her professional future. Boyer, of course, suffers in comparison with Raimu, but it should be remembered that his part was cut to nothing (the present script is by Julius J. Epstein, and the decision to minimize César's role was Logan's). As for Logan's direction, it is, shall we say, non-Gallic."
- Norman Cecil, Films in Review

"There is usually, even in the worst film, something one can say in mitigation but, rack my brains as I will, I can find nothing of merit in this mutilation of the work of one of my least favourite French producer-directors."
- Richard Whitehall, Films and Filming

"Curious adaptation of the 1954 Broadway musical (book by SN Behrman and Logan) which cavalierly cut out the excellent Harold Rome score, leaving only the title song for background orchestrations. What's left, clumsily compressed from Pagnol's Marseilles trilogy so as to play up the romantic complications, is both dire and dull. Jack Cardiff's pretty Technicolor photography is some compensation."
Tom Milne, TimeOut Film Guide

"Gorgeously photographed and beautifully scored dramatic version of Marcel Pagnol's trilogy....Chevalier and Boyer give flavorful performances."
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide

"Lumbering adaptation of three Pagnol films of the thirties...and later as a Broadway musical. This is the dullest version despite fine photography and a couple of good performances."
- Halliwell's Film & Video Guide

"Any attempt at reproducing the original in another language must have been doubtful of success: Logan's film lacks conviction even within its own terms."
- The Oxford Companion to Film

Compiled by Frank Miller