Fanny (1961)

On the evening before he intends to go to sea for five years, Horst Buchholz impregnates Leslie Caron. When she discovers she is pregnant, she agrees to marry much older but richer Maurice Chevalier who has been wanting her for awhile. I’m not generally a fan of Caron, but she’s not too bad here. The tone of the film is a bit odd. It’s a bit too light on tension to be a drama, but much too long and melodramatic as a story to be a comedy. It really feels like it should be a musical, and indeed was based on the book from a stage musical. Reading up on it, Charles Boyer, who played Buchholz’s father, apparently wouldn’t have signed on if it was, which would have been a shame because he is quite a bright spot to the film. 

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture; Best Actor in a Leading Role; Best Cinematography, Color; Best Film Editing; Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture