Focus: A Film Review (1950-1951)

132 At the Film Festival in Uruguay By Freda Bruce Lockhart One of the first people I met at Punta del Este, after flying over six thousand miles to attend the first film festival in Uruguay, was Andre Ruszkowski, the indefatigable secretarygeneral of the O.C.I.C. I was delighted to see him there, not only for the pleasure of finding an old friend so far from home, but also because his presence was an encouraging symptom of the growing firmness of the Catholic footing in the film world. Last year in Venice I stayed at the same hotel as the O.C.I.C. jury at the Festival ; previously I had met an O.C.I.C. jury at the Belgian Festival. Somehow I had not expected to find the O.C.I.C. so taken for granted, an established part of the proceedings, so far on the other side of the world. It was a very pleasant surprise; still more so, and an honour too, when M. Ruszkowski asked me to be a member of the jury. We were then : three Uruguayans, a Mexican, an Italian, Ruszkowski and myself. People are inclined to pour scorn on these festivals as tourist rackets or holiday treats for critics. There was " some temptation to regard the Punta del Este festival as a picnic, for the hospitality was exuberant and inexhaustible. In my opinion there is quite a strong case to be made for Festivals, apart from my own enjoyment. Anything which enhances the prestige of good films is a benefit to the cinema, and festival juries are almost always responsible enough to do that, however much one may disagree with their verdicts. In addition it is a benefit as well as a pleasure for those who stalk the jungle of the studios to meet people from other countries who take films seriously. It is an especial pleasure, of course, to meet Catholic film^ workers from other countries and one of the pleasantest of all the lavish V entertainments in Uruguay was a simple tea-party given by a prominent local Catholic for June Haver and the members of the O.C.I.C. jury. Speaking strictly for myself, it was also salutary to find this actress, whom I had candidly always regarded as just another technicolor musical blonde, to be such a truly sweet and charming and serious young person. Even more encouraging than the presence of the O.C.I.C. jury (which perhaps ought not to have been so unexpected after all) was the Catholic climate of the films shown. Not that Uruguay has not its fair share of anti-clericalism, even anti-Catholicism ; I was told that the founder many years ago of the governing party (which has been in power for over half a century) had to turn against the Church for the same reason as our Henry VIII — he wanted a divorce to marry a lady not his wife. It was open talk that the findings of the Festival Jury would be affected bv the fact that Catholics in it were the minority. Of course, there is always talk about a jury’s awards, but it seemed plausible that some such division might account for the compromise choice of a mediocre film, like the Italian Domani e Troppo Tardi, which would hurt nobod}', as the prize winner, rather than either a film like La Ronde, which could give scandal to the religious element, or one with a specifically Catholic subject like . Cielo Sulla Palude, the story of Saint > Maria Goretti, which got the next most votes after the winner. Winners and juries apart, what I meant by the Catholic climate of the films shown was the unmistakable sense of being in a Latin and Catholic climate instead of in a Northern and Protestant one. It was not a question