Sunday, February 26, 1956

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Pnne Elevem

_____215H M H N A

THE EVENTS .. .

Festival Gimmick

Sports Abroad

By ERNEST THEODOSSIN Next, U.S. ambassador to Italy
AMERICANS glancing over ad- Clare Booth Luce promised un-
vertisements for obscure Amer- savory repurcussions if Americans
lcan and foreign films often find daksow the controversial
suchchoce nfomaton eveledBlackboard Jungle." Everything
asuch hoice information revealed worked out all right, and Venetians
Awa "inner of YFD ilm Festival got to see such uncontroversial
Winner" American opera as B-rt Lancaster
Winner rin "The Kentuckian," a tale of
These tags refer to a new pu-,rnte America, and "Interrupt-
licity stunt called "Film Festivals," ed Melody," the melodramatic saga
probably the most ingenious ad- of an opera singer,
vertising gimmick since radio lis- SECOND: Many countries, the
teners were bombarded with "Tal- United States included, use the
lulah the Tube" several years ago. festivals for propaganda purposes
Film festivals were initiated by and monetary gains.
an unknown press agent in 1932 Berliners, as an example of the
and since the last World War former, were treated at their festi-
they have become commonplace val to "Strategic Air Command,"
throughout the world, from Edin- the American entry. Hollywood,
burgh, Sco land to Junta del Esta, together with Washington, felt the
Uruguay and most civilized nations Germans needed a glimpse of
can boast at least one, with the American air power. The film,
United States being the major which had a maudlin story woven
exception. between plane shots, was greeted
The festivals at Cannes on the with enthusiastic laughs and boos.
Riviera in the spring and Venice "The Kentuckian," apart from
in late summer are undoubtedly being chosen to appease the irrate
the most important, although Mrs. Luce, was sent abroad be-
Edinburgh and Berlin get their cause festival publicity would in-
share of attention sure a several-hundred-thousand
dollar increase in box-office re-
COMMON to every festival are ceipts.
absurd pubO-ity stunts and THIRD: The festivals are taking
loads of international glamour on the appearance of a stunt-
and red tape. A close examination promotion campaign. No longer
of goings-on at Cannes, Venice need a young starlet announce she
and Berlin last year will provide loves men who eat raw beefsteak
some of the reasons why film fes- to gain attention. She can simply
tivals never emerge as anything hop on a plane for Cannes, throw
more than blends of artiness, ab- on a bikini, saunter about the
surdity and advertising. Riviera beach and pick up a stray
FIRST: Since these festivals oc- throneless prince: she is sure to
cur in an international setting, make headlines back home.
they must observe all the pleasan- FOURTH: Many of the really
ties and niceties of nineteenth important pictures are not entered
century political diplomacy. into festival competition, but only
At Venice, for example, Catholic shown in conjunction with the fes-
pressure forced withdrawal of the tivals. The reasons for the "pri-
Czechoslovakian film "Jan Hus." vate" screenings are not always
The leftists immediately retaliated clear, but they may at least in
by demanding withdrawal of the part be inspired by the usual op-
Spanish "Canto del Gallo" dealing positions and attacks which ac-
with persecution of a priest by company announcements of "in-
revolutionaries. ternational" festival juries.


The juries are chosen along
political lines, with the U.S. and
Russia having equal numbers of
judges.
FROM ALL of the foregoing con-
siderations, it is apparent that
film festivals end up as rather
tiresome flukes. Many of the
films shown never reach American
shores because distributors are
afraid to take a financial chance
on them.
Aside from Cannes and Venice,
the other festivals get neither pre-
fabricated glamour nor much at-
tention. Edinburgh formerly con-
centrated solely on documentaries,
but recently other features have
been added to gain wider recogni-
tion. It has not come in any
great manner. America sent over
MGM's wide-screen, Technicolor'
fairy tale, "The Glass Slipper." It
did not provoke any enthusiasm
either.
Needless to say, American pro-
ducers are not really very con-
cerned with these film festivals or
any artistic level. One might dis-
agree with the poor choice of na-
tional films, but better films are
not the only answer to raising
festivals to an artistic level.

By DAVE GREY
NINETEEN - Hundred - and -
Fifty-Six is the year of inter-
national athletic competition at
the highest level-the Olympic
Games,
People from all corners of the
world will be looking ahead to this
year's Summer Olympics, which
will be held at Melbourne, Aus-
tralia, during North America's fall
season, November 22 through Dec-
ember 8.
Olympic competition means that
1956 will go down in international
history as another "great" year
of amateur competition between
the leading countries of the World.
The United States and the U.S.-
S.R., dynamic political forces, will
be the two most-talented nations
represented at the Summer Games.
FOR THE traveler abroad, 1956
will still have many of the
spectacular and crowd-attracting
events of a non-Olympic year.
Golf competition on an interna-
tional level will start off on June
8, at Sandwich, England, where
the women's amateur Curtis Cup
match will be held.
Following the United States'
National Open Golf Championship

at Rochester, N.Y., at the end of
June, England will be the scene
of another international match-
the British Open, from July 2-6.
London will again host one of
tennis' outstanding spectator at-
tractions from June 25 through
July 7, when the Wimbledon Ten-
nis Championships will be held,
Another spring attraction will be
the June 6 running of the English
Derby at colorful Epsom Downs
before British royalty.
fIGHLIGHT of the horse racing
season will be the Grand Prix
at Deauville, France, late in Aug-
ust, This will also be the time for
France's Grand Prize sailing re-
gatta at Biarritz and the Grand
Week of sporting events-tennis
matches and horse races-at Ba-
den, Germany.
Visitors to Spain will have a
chance to see "the most colorful
of sports"-bullfighting-through-
out the summer. One of the big-
gest and most unusual single spec-
tacles of the bullfight season will
be in the fall at Medinaceli, when
the Cuerpos Santos will be held
in the evening, complete with all
the pagentry of a midnight pro-
cession.

~


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