- Title: Cannes Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid
- By: The Editors of Variety
- Year Published: 1997 (Variety, Inc./Miramax Books/Hyperion)
- Year Purchased: 2000?
- Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
- About: The Cannes Film Festival is as much about the shenanigans of the beautiful movie stars as it is about the actual films vying for the prizes. Or, at least it was. In recent years (decades?) the whole enterprise seems stale and tepid. You have to go back to the 1950s and 1960s to find the truly interesting stories and dazzlingly cheesy stunts. This thin volume, covering the first five decades of the festival, gives readers a light-hearted, conspiratorial look behind the scenes. The photos are exceptional.
- Motivation: Film buff and writer in the house.
- Times Read: 2
- Random Excerpt/Page 19: “Ironically, Cannes was not created for the film buff at all, but to lure attention away from Venice, the granddaddy of all film festivals, as well as to increase tourism, image and the sheer gloire of the host country, ever a fervent combatant for culture. (Not coincidentally, the Cannes festival jury was all-French until 1952, when some carefully screened outsiders were admitted.)
- Happiness Scale: 7 1/2
A Year in Books/Day 120: Cannes
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A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 