Home Movies (1954)

FREE } &> CLUB MEMBERSHIP 8MM 16MM MOVIES ON APPROVAL! If you want to receive your films on approval — with the right to screen them in your own home before you decide whether or not you want to buy them — join our club — MEMBERSHIP IS FREE! NEW LOW PRICES! A_50 Ft. 8mm reels for only . 3 99 e SOUND FILMS for only ADULT films — for modern grown-up audiences. Movies for the entire family to enjoy. CHILDREN'S movies— the kids will scream with delight at these comedies. ( Indicate Which Type of Film Desired In Coupon and Mail Today.) BONICA NEWSREEL CLUB, HM 6516 SELMA AVE., HOLLYWOOD 28, CALIF. Rush Films 4 8mm films for only $4.99 Checked □ 3 16mm SOUND FILMS for 14.99 COD □ 3 16mm SILENT FILMS for 14.99 I Prefer □ A □ B Q C MOVIES Please enroll me as a member of your Movie Club and send me a reel approximately every month postpaid — ON APPROVAL. If I like the reels I will send my remittance within 5 days after I receive it — otherwise I will return within 5 days (enclosing 25c) without obligation. I may cancel my membership at any time. NAME Age ADDRESS CITY Zone . STATE_ CANNES • Contnued from Page 216 film, which features several well-done battle scenes including hundreds of horsemen. The acting is in general overdone, and the propaganda element is too obvious, thought the mechanical technique was good. The film was too long, and dramatic rhythm seemed to be lacking at times. International Prize: Sweden: "The Grand Adventure" is a sort of full length documentary which won honorable mention for its author-directorphotographer, Arne Sucksdorff. This is his first film, and one may say it is outside of the commercial realm, and almost reminiscent of some amateur films on 16mm. Yet the photography is excellent, exceptional at times, and the film is professional as far as mechanical technique is concerned. The director spent two and one half years and 240,000 feet of film in shooting this movie in the beautiful countryside of central Sweden. The major part of the film is a photo sketch of animal life in the Swedish forest, and woven rather poorly into this documentary structure is the story of two young boys who find and keep a small otter as their secret pet. One feels that the story of the boys was added to the film after the natural portion was shot. For those who like good photography and nature films The Grand Adventure is something to note. Yet one may well wonder if the feature length duration of this film is warranted. A high point is acting of the two young boys, who no doubt should have been used to a greater extent in the film. International Prize : U nited States of America: "The Living Desert" is one of Walt Disney's True Life Adventures which held the audience of the Festival from beginning to end. The jury gave honorable mention to the camera crew who shot this film. Since most Americans have seen or will see this film detailed discussion will be omited here. The only comment of interest was that on the large screen of the Festival Hall the technicolor print lacked sharpness and pureness of color. Some people thought this was because the film was no doubt shot on 16mm kodachrome and later blown up to 35mm with the consequent loss of clearness. Special Prize of the Jury for the Direction by Rene Clement (French) of the film, Monsieur Ripois (entered by England) projected on a large panoramic screen. When this prize was announced a large applause came from the balcony in the Festival Hall. It must be understood that Monsieur Ripois is not a masterpiece; it is merely a fine picture which is pleasant to see. The sentiment expressed in Cannes came from other sources. Monsieur Ripois is a film shot in London by a Franco-English production group and employs a French director (Clement, who directed Forbidden Games) and a French star, Gerald Philip (who did such a fine job in Devil in the Flesh) along with the charming English stars, Joan Greenwood and Valerie Hobson. This film has something of the same spirit as La Ronde, since it is the story of a certain Monsieur Ripois, an active seducer, who has left Paris to live in London. In 'confessing his sins' to a girl he is trying to attract, we see in a series of flashbacks, the various humorous romantic escapades of this displaced French Don Juan. Rene Clement's directing job gives this film the same polish as we saw in his Forbidden Games. Gerald Philip is magnificent in his humorous role, and the story becomes only a bit long toward the end . This is a film which must and certainly will come to the United States. The commercial intrigues which centered about this film revealed in a vivid way how a Festival runs. It was said that Before the Deluge won its two prizes more as a stab at the censor than because of its artistic merits. At 8 P. M. of April 10th as we were sitting in the Carlton Bar (the Carlton Hotel, along with the Festival Hall, is the heart of the life in Cannes, and most things of importance happen in one of these two places) when we met a friend of ours concerned with the French films presented at the Festival. He unhappily informed us of his bad luck. At 6 P. M. the people who should know on the International Critic Committee told him his film Monsieur Ripois (dear to French interests since it is a Franco-English production) would have the Critic's Prize, to be announced officially at midnight. At a little before 8 P. M. he heard that Before the Deluge won the Critic's Prize. Since the jury heard that Monsieur Ripois was getting this prize they did not give it any other prize. ★ Mr. Vickman will conclude his article on the Cannes Festival next month. 217