I LOVE this movie and can't believe I haven't seen a decent comment about Horst Buchholz!
I grew up on the musical "Fanny". My mother has always claimed that she was pregnant with me or I was conceived the weekend that my parents went to NYC to see it and that's why I love musicals so much. I'm from a large family and whenever we were on long car rides, we always sang songs from "Fanny" (and always, "The Thought of You", "Love is a Very Light Thing", and "Other Hands, Other Hearts" as dramatically as we could.)
One big joke when I was young was that we had to go to a music store and order a new Fanny 'cause my mom's was cracked. When I found the CD for a sister for Christmas in the last few years, she screamed when she opened it, showed it to the room, and the rest of us screamed. When the in-laws, nieces and nephews asked what "Fanny" was, we broke into "The Thought of You".
When the movie came out on TV, the ten of us gathered in a dark room to watch it and were thrilled when we heard the overture. But half of the family left the room when they realized it wasn't a musical. I was one of the ones who stayed and have always loved this movie. Knowing which song is playing in the background just enhances it. But, I think this has the best filmed kiss EVER!! Horst Buchholz makes me ache and I think he demonstrates the same kind of frustration and passion that Jimmy Stewart did in "It's a Wonderful Life" when he was stuck in his town and dreamed for bigger things for himself. I just had two girlfriends here for the weekend and I introduced "Fanny" to them. We ended up watching it three times (and other parts over and over) and just ordered copies for them.
I've also ordered "Marius", "Fanny" and "Cesar" and am still waiting for "Fanny" to arrive, though I decided to watch "Marius" already. I know that there will be gaps that will be filled in but that can happen in an editing room today. Just listen to a director's commentary on a DVD today and you realize what ended up on the cutting room floor which now explains some thing that seemed odd in a film. The only thing I found odd about Fanny saying that Panisse was dying was 1) saying it in front of her son, and 2) not hugging and kissing her child that was missing.
But I always feel bad that Horst went to his grave not knowing how many women admired him in this film in my corner of the world. One time when watching it with a sister and a friend, after the part where Fanny explains to Marius that each night there's a woman who would love to lie down next to him, my friend said, "There are THREE women who would love to lie down next to you." :-) YUM-MY!
