Topaze (1951)
Directed by Marcel Pagnol

Film Review

Fifteen years after he first adapted his popular stage play Topaze for cinema, Marcel Pagnol turned out this more polished version, believing it to be the perfect vehicle for Fernandel, the iconic comic actor who had featured in many of his previous films.  In his 1936 adaptation, the lead role had been played to perfection by Alexandre Arnaudy, and whilst Fernandel would seem to be ideally suited to play the "innocent idiot" schoolteacher, he is far less convincing as the ruthless capitalist that Topaze ultimately becomes.  Pagnol's 1951 production of Topaze is certainly slicker than the director's previous version, but it is less convincing and lacks the satirical punch of that earlier film.

Fernandel is the weak link in an otherwise impeccable cast, which includes the director's wife Jacqueline Pagnol and a likeably tyrannical Marcel Vallée, perfect for the role of the headmaster.  Pierre Larquey is an obvious casting choice for the part of the supposedly incorruptible teacher Tamise, who provides the benchmark against which Topaze's moral decline is measured.  Hélène Perdrière and Jacques Morel are enjoyably venal as the supposed villains of the piece, the diabolical couple who lure Topaze into a lucrative life of vice.  By this stage in his career, Fernandel was beginning to prove himself as an actor, although here he is over-stretched by a part that requires far more dramatic range than he can offer.  If there was ever an opportunity for the actor to bury his sympathetic imbecile persona this was it.  Alas, he couldn't bring himself to do so, and so his Topaze is undeniably cinema's least credible.

Film Synopsis

A schoolmaster at a private school, Albert Topaze is a man of exceptional character who tries to inculcate his virtuous beliefs in his pupils. When the parent of one of his less promising students puts pressure on him to give her son a higher grade he refuses, and in doing so he makes himself unpopular with the headmaster, Monsieur Muche.  Hearing that Topaze tried to kiss his daughter Ernestine, Muche instantly dismisses the unfortunate teacher, who is reduced to giving private lessons to earn his keep.  At present his only patron is Suzy Courtois, the mistress of Castel-Vernac, a crooked councillor.  Unable to sign his own name in his louche business dealings, the councillor persuades Topaze to lend him his name. Through this arrangement, Topaze soon becomes a wealthy man, but how can he square this newfound success with his earlier belief that money does not make a man happy...?