The Ads.

FROM eighteen countries 698 dele- gates have just seen 655 films made by 159 producers at the fourth International Screen Advertising Festival at Cannes : 655 films add up to something like 123,900 feet of advertising material—over 40,000 yards of celluloid devoted to selling cornflakes, tinned milk, refrigerators, corsets, motor-cars, stockings, deodorants, dresses, sweets, cigarettes, detergents, medicines, ball-point pens, cheese, everything, in fact, that you can eat or ride in or use or wear or drink or look at. The delegates represented the ,producing companies that make these films, the advertising agents that work out the basic ideas, the advertisers who commission them to do so and the distributors who get them out to cinemas or (a minority section) the television contractors who put them on your screen.

Very few people realise the power and scope of film advertising. Although we are all of us conscious of posters and press advertisements and a lot of us are conscious of television commercials, cinema commercials tend to be forgotten when we think of the overall picture of advertising. Yet many of the best things in advertising are being done specially for the cinema; and as a selling medium (everyone seems agreed) it's pretty damned effective. What's more, even after seeing 40,000 yards of the stuff, my impression is that msthetically it's superior to a similar cross-section of other forms of advertising.

Prizewinners were a lively lot, nearly half 1 them French, and most of 'em gay and amusing ."ell as being technically bright. In the tele- ision section the Brooke Bond chimpanzees were le`trttlY applauded but unaccountably failed to et among the prizes. The same thing applies to le. brilliantly energetic Rael-Brook Toplin nil-wafted shirts. Indeed, the only British repre- !Mauves among the Palmares were a puppet for Player's made by the jovial Dutch puppet ;11.g J°0I) Geesink (first in its class) and (second 11s.closs) an excellent piece of model animation ineastes Associes for Senior Service. So even rle British prizewinners were produced by foreign c°11)Panies.

Curiously enough, national characteristics elr,nerged with monotonous, clicheistic regularity: I-rench were witty and sprightly; the Germans fere solid and heavy; the Italians were mostly

‘%()

.-rds and froth and bubble; the Scandinavians 4t)ternaled between weightiness and craziness; the iitiftch were rounded and kindly and slow; and the

'Otiti were—with a few dashing exceptions_

‘i 1.. '-rtilY• It's surprising that a similar festival hasn't Yet been organised by the television boys. For ath'ere's no doubt that this kind of function serves extremely useful purpose. It creates healthy, i et) if heart-burning rivalries between producers; serves as a useful international mart for the iekChange of ideas; by concentrating on the best a raises the average standard each year Opreciably. Looking at the run of television corn- t4Iercial5 since I have been back, there is no doubt at there is room for quite a hefty lift in average slandards.

p Looking, too, at Sunday Night at the London Whirliitin there can't be much, argument about teed td a

raise standards here. This Sunday the

cole of the second half of the show was devoted flle drearily coy antics of a Miss Jayne Mans- A`ld and the drearily off-key singing of a Mr. 6,1,141 rob14—both from Hollywood. Miss Mans- -1c1, inrerviewed leeringly by the otherwise per- Sellable Mr. Henderson, played a few amateurish on a violin, tinkled inexpertly at the piano t111(1 recited Shakespeare. After each incursion into te frealms of talent Mr. Henderson led the

a id

clenee in wild acclaim. 'You've got to admit

Le girl has talent' he cried bravely. This betrayal

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sil i"is profession by a talented comedian was too w-Y to be sad. Mr. Jones then either shouted or b lbspered some songs whenever he had time s'tWeen giving brilliant displays of his teeth. tol'iday Night at the Palladium purports to be our b 1) television variety show. It's currently handled Ti One of our most able TV producers, Mr. Brian ...Pier. Perhaps he is not responsible for the

material that he is given to bake his cake with. But he might, surely, ask for a few fresh eggs now and again instead of the dehydrated American variety that we seem to be increasingly importing. No one can persuade me that we haven't got brighter ideas about artists than recent versions of this programme would tend to demonstrate.

JOHN METCALF