A Night Out with Mr. Todd
Illyn BERNARD LEVIN o we ,got into this aeroplane (a score of a journalists, a slightly anxious cicerone, a dozen gigantic hampers, containing costumes for the party, anda man from Germans to look after them) and flew off to Nice. At Nice another of Mr. Todd's entourage was waiting to greet us, accompanied by a fleet' of taxis which swished us off to Cannes. Mr. Todd appeared to have hired Most of the Hotel Montfleury (at any rate we each had a room with a private bath) and yet another henchman was holding forth on the circenses to cone, not to mention the pattern. 'Floor-Show . . . balloons . . . HMIs . . :Picasso . . . supper- party. .' Only one snag had reared its ugly head : it seemed that there were no tickets for the film. That, we reflected, looking out of the door at a blue Riviera sky, was Mr. Todd's funeral.
We need not have worried,' even if we had felt inclined to. At dintve, the cicerone (still anxious but wonderfully 'in command of the situation) bustled about distributing tickets. The kinetic air of the entire proceedings was well maintained; my ticket, endorsed 'Invitation strictement pern- nelle' was made 'out to Lady Beaverbrook. The taxis, which simply stood by were the hotel throughout the entire visit,' were summoned, and we swished doWn to the Palais du Festival. Out- side, On the beach, Mr. Todd had been at it again; a gigantic balloon, a replica of the one in which Phileas Fogg and Passepartout float over the Alps 'in the film, hovered above ihe plage, while in the baSket, appropriately drtssed figures (score one for the hampers) gesticulated wildly;'it was'impos- sible to hear what they we saying, but their mien was unmistakable: `Get me out of here!"
The man at the mike (sorry) kept announcing that the performance was going to begin at once, reminding me of those government- surplus stores that have had 'Closing Down Sale' painted over the door since 1947. Eventually, it did, though not before no less a person than the Speaker of the Chambre des Deputes, looking remarkably like Dr. Bodkin Adams, had officially declared the Tenth Cannes Film Festival open.
So then we saw the film. I can best describe it by saying that it was rather like Cinerama, only good. Owing to a combination of legal snags and the understandable reluctance of the authorities to have their cinema dismantled, it was shown on an ordinary CinemaScope screen, which appeared to stretch from Antibes on one side to Frejus on the other, instead of the original Todd-AO screen, which would have extended from Marseilles to the Italian border. As it was, I was seized from time to time with an uncomfortable feeling that a good deal of the film was taking place behind me. Still, the film itself was throughout in such good humour, so light-hearted, that carping was out of the question. The audience seemed to vary between the mildly appreciative and the actually comatose, .but it was noticeable' that what they applauded was most invariably the huge panoramic landscape scenes, though when Passepartout, Fogg's valet, is about to be burnt at the stake and the US Cavalry comes to the rescue to the tune of the William Tell overture, they clapped like mad.
The authorities, knowing that once that crowd got out of the auditorium it would take the best ,part of a week to get them back in again, can- celled the interval that Mr. Todd had thoughtfully proVided in his 160-minute picture. As a result, we were out soon after 12.30, and the night was only beginning. Down the road to the Casino we drifted, with the Mediterranean splashing happily away just across the street. At the door, rather curiously, was M. Andre, who owns most of Deauville and not a little of Cannes, taking the invitation cards. Our ever-ready cicerone stood by with a bundle of spares for those who had left theirs behind. Inside, all was gas and gaiters and delight and rather too few seats. The hum of conversation, once one's ears had adjusted them- selves, sorted itself out into fifteen hundred people saying 'Lindsay hated it' in eleven different languages. There was everything to eat you ever heard of (together with some curious wobbly things that you never did), but nothing to drink but champagne. Immediately outside the win- dows which form one entire wall of the Ambas- sadors' Room, a miniature jungle had been erected, and lions roamed up and down, occasionally pausing to stare into the room or to have their chins tickled by a man in a blue siren suit and on crutches (well, no wonder) who Wandered about among them.
Came the dawn, followed by the floor show. Can-can girls, acrobats, more acrobats, a pretty youth in a pair of white satin trunks, more acrobats. Ten minutes at the tables (profit : 3,000 francs, and the back of my hand to you, Mr. Thorneycroft) and a couple of hours at a bistro with Picture Post CA quelle heure fertne-t-on?'— `lainaisP) and it was five o'clock and bedtime.
Next morning the sun was up early, which is more than I can say for myself, but down on the beach a breeze gate the bathing-beauties a wonderful excuse for remaining firmly tethered to the sand. Discussion, without heat, mainly concerned whether Mr. Kurt Jurgens was at present married, and if so to whom.
Then Mr. Todd gave luncheon to the press, and made a speech which (well, dammit, I was the man's guest) I am forgetting as quickly as possible. It was the nearest thing to a demonstration of the stream-of-consciousness I ever heard. He would say something, which would remind him of some- thing else, so he would say that. That would remind him of a further thing, and he would say that. And so on. The first half-hour was taken up by a long, rambling story about a row with the press he was supposed to have had, concerning seats for the film (a funny little American, acting as spokesman for the malcontents, put forward the charming view that to allocate only 200 tickets to these professional schnorrers was an outrage), and after an hour we tiptoed out to catch our plane, Mr. Todd calling good wishes after us. The taxis were still waiting patiently, and we swished back to Nice, got on the plane and went home.
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