In 1939, William Dieterleıs, "The Hunchback of Notre Dame, " with Charles Laughton in the title role, was shown on opening night at a film festival held in the French fishing village of Cannes. At the time, a multi-feature programme was planned, in part to compete with the newly established Venice Film Festival.
As it turned out, at that inaugural Cannes Film Festival, "Hunchback" was the only film shown. Coincident with opening night, it was widely reported that Germany had invaded Poland, World War II had begun in earnest, and the remainder of the film programme was cancelled. The festival did not resume until 1946, and it would not become a regular event until 1961. Today, the Cannes Film Festival is a fixture in the mid-May calender. Although the Sundance Film Festival seems to be the most important to North America and the Hollywood establishment, and despite the fact that several festivals like Rotterdam, with more than 1000 films screened each year, are orders of magnitude larger, Cannes remains the grande dame of film festivals. (The arguable exception is, of course, Venice but letıs talk about that in August.)
As a young festival, the preeminence of Cannes was not a sure thing. Its very existence was questionable from year to year. The event was truncated in 1947, and cancelled in 1948 and 1950. But in 1952, when Cannes awarded its Best Actor award to Marlon Brando for his performance in "Viva Zapata!" Cannes began to ride a wave of formal celebration of film arts. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts had its first extensive awards ceremony in 1952, coincidentally awarding Brando its Best Actor award for his portrayal of Zapata. (Brandoıs Zapata would lose the Oscar race to Gary Cooperıs Marshal Will Kane in "High Noon.") Successful film festivals were becoming viable in a number of European cities arch-rival Venice, of course, while the upstart Locarno (established in 1946) and Berlin (1951) festivals were also attracting growing attention.
To be sure, it wasnıt simply film as art that fueled the success of Cannes in the 1950s. Cannesı growing reputation for provocative glamour was a major factor. In 1953, Brigitte Bardot first appeared at Cannes and her swimsuit photos from the event caused an international uproar. At Cannes in 1954, aspiring actress Simone Sylva made headlines around the world when she unhooked her brassiere and posed for photographers alongside a startled Robert Mitchum. The list of glamorous film actresses who debuted to the worldıs eye at Cannes during the 1950s included Grace Kelly, Jayne Mansfield, Kim Novak, Sophia Loren, and Gina Lollobrigida.
Interestingly enough, while the Cannes film festival continues to be glamorous, today more than ever it is aligned with art films. As the 53rd festival began, the Hollywood Reporter noted that the last four Palme dıOr winners the top prize at the festival accounted for about one-million dollars in box office receipts in America. ("Rosetta" in 99, "Eternity and A Day" in 98, "A Taste of Cherry" and "Unagi" in 97, and "Secrets and Lies" in 96.) For the same period, the four Academy Award winners raked in close to one-billion American dollars. Regardless of commercial success, Cannes is entering the 21st century
in modern style one that you can see from the comfort of your computer arm-chair. According to advertisements, you can "Take the pulse of the Croisette!" simply by logging onto websites that feature video from live webcams placed on the steps of the Palais des Festivals and on the rooftop of the Hotel Martinez.
While the importance of those live webcams remains to be seen, today
it is hard to dispute the rising importance of film festivals formerly a handful at mid-century, now more than 800 around the globe in shaping the world of movies. Preeminent festivals like Cannes will likely play a greater role in exposing films to influential buyers and therefore directly affecting what we see on local movie and television screens.
Of course, festivals will continue to be important simply for themselves. The director of the San Francisco International Film Festival, Peter Scarlet, put it succinctly, "Festivals in some way have begun to supplant more traditional exhibition sites because there are fewer theaters showing foreign work and independent work across the United States. A lot of festivals have sprung up and will continue to spring up in order to serve an audience that may want to see other films and can't in their neighborhood multiplex. We want people to discover the world here."
Time Was...
May 16, 1929: In the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the first Oscar ceremony takes place. Emil Jannings won best actor for "The Last Command" and becomes the first Oscar no-show. He had picked up his Oscar in advance and then left for Europe.
May 19, 1962: Marilyn Monroe sings happy birthday to John Kennedy in a nationally televised celebration at Madison Square Garden. Jackie Kennedy wasnıt in attendance.
May 20, 1946: Georgia Holt gives birth to Cheryl Sarkisian, who would
later be known simply as Cher.
May 22, 1955: The headline in the Los Angeles Times read: "The Fight Was for Blood and They Got It." During a fight between James Dean and Corey Allen, Dean was injured and bleeding when director Nicholas Ray called cut. Infuriated, Dean shouted, "What the hell are you doing? Can't you see I'm having a real moment? Don't you ever cut the scene while I'm having a real moment. What the fuck do you think I'm here for?
May 25, 1977: Star Wars opens in America.
May 28, 1965: For the first time in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, both acting prizes go to the same picture. The lead roles in "The Collector" went to Terence Stamp and Samantha Eggar, after director William Wyler had considered Warren Beatty, Natalie Wood, Dean Stockwell, Sarah Miles, and Anthony Perkins.
Kevin Morrison is a writer,
director and actor
.©2000 Kevin Morrison ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
commentary
May 2000
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