Marcel Pagnol's classic French films from the '30s get a long-overdue revival

Behold the multiple paradoxes of Marcel Pagnol.

 Once upon a time he was France's most celebrated filmmaker, the first of his craft to be selected to the lofty Academie Francaise. His best-known works from the 1930s, the warm and richly emotional trilogy of "Marius," "Fanny" and "Cesar," were once...