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Cannes makes a spectacle of itself in, out of theaters

May 29, 2005|By Michael Wilmington, Tribune movie critic. Tribune reporter Jacqueline Fitzgerald contributed to this article.

Those were only a few of the discoveries. For the six decades since its opener in 1946, Cannes has always been a kind of cinema lover's Valhalla -- even if some dyspeptic critics try to make it a hell.

Those same observers like to characterize Cannes as some kind of snobfest, packed with movies that "ordinary folks" don't appreciate or see. But one of the delights of Cannes is its catholic tastes: the roster of top winners includes "La Dolce Vita," "Viridiana," "Open City," "The Tin Drum," "Farewell, My Concubine" and "The Leopard" but also "The Third Man," "The Lost Weekend," "Marty," "M*A*S*H," "Taxi Driver," "Apocalypse Now" "Pulp Fiction," and, believe it or not, Walt Disney's "Dumbo."

Odd company

Belatedly released in Europe after World War II, my favorite flying elephant shared the Cannes top prize in 1947 with two French films, "Antoine and Antoinette" and "Les Maudits") and two American ones, a musical, "Ziegfeld Follies" and a film noir, "Crossfire."

And if you don't understand why Cannes juries loved and honored both "Dumbo" and "La Dolce Vita," both "The Wages of Fear" and "M*A*S*H" -- or why "E.T" long held the festival's record for the longest standing ovation -- you just don't understand Cannes. Au revoir, for another year.