The Venice Film Festival. 1950

Abstract

national cinema festivals; that is to say, it has to find a compromise between the artistic requirements of the exhibition and the commercial interests of the various film companies which take part in it. Since it is not permissible to ask by name for certain films, the "Biennale" must rely on the honesty and good taste of the various national selection committees. But in truth, not all the films presented are worthy of appearing in an exhibition dedicated to showing the finest examples of cinematic art. The 1950 festival in Venice, the eleventh since the founding of the exhibition, was characterized by the brilliant success of French cinematography, which carried off the greatest number of awards. And the awarding of the International Grand Prize, the "Leone di San Marco," to Andre Cayatte's Justice est faite was intended as an acknowledgment that, in general, the French selections were the most homogeneous and intelligent of all shown there. On the other hand, everyone admits that, even though many noteworthy films were shown at Venice in 1950, none was so far ahead of the others as to unqualifiedly deserve top honors. In awarding the Grand Prize, the judges (including critics and wellknown personalities of the Italian cultural world) had to arrive at a compromise which, like all compromises, did not completely satisfy anybody. And it is perhaps significant to note that the Italian motion picture critics awarded their 1950 annual prize to a film that was not in the competition: Edward Dmytryk's Give Us This Day. 373 E 373 1