68 FRANCE frSRlETr Wednesday, May 2, 1962

Population: 7,000

Boom In Andorra Includes Films By BILL BELL

La Vella. Of the surviving novelties of Eu­

rope's antiquity there remains An­dorra, the republic in the Pyre­nees which has a French count and a Spanish bishop as "guardians." It is a 188-square mile sector which allures large numbers of tourists because it appeals to their love of the quaint.

What of Andorra .as a film cen­ter? The answer lies in the boom of tourism. Visitors t ire of look­ing and seek amusement. A new 800-seat hardtop is a-building, re-sultantly. This must be matched against the existing six tiny halls which collectively provide under 500 seats.

A film boom in Andorra! (Popu­lation, 7,000.)

Investigation of the economics of film exhibition in the tiny land Indicates that each "showman" ar­ranges to import his own spools of celluloid. Pr ints are r e n t e d either from Barcelona, Spain, or Paris . American pix get big play, westerns a proven favorite. Think pieces fall dead.

The majority of the 600 odd pic­tures unspooled last year were American, as they have been for several yers. French and Spanish offerings fill. Bills change three t imes weekly in most cases. A few Italian releases have reached Andorra.

Recent big b.o. was Metro's "Ben-Hur," showing at Cassany's houses here in La Vella and in Escaldes. Admissions are at the equivalent of 50c and 40c, depend­ing on location. Normal prices are 85c in this tax-free country.

In winter, when the tourists go

away and there 's nothing to do at night (clubs, some hotels shut­t e r ed ) , boxoffice is big. "Ben-Hur," like other block busters, is billed for a full week, that is, seven showings. Andorra knows no* matinees, not even on holidays.

Recently current were "Alexan­der the Grea t " (UA), "I t Started With A Kiss" (MGM), "Butterfield 8" (MGM) and a couple of French gangster productions.

Other socks for 1961 were "One-Eyed Jacks," "10 Commandments" and "Gone With the Wind," show­ing first run since Andora literally had no houses when GWTW first played off. "Wind" was last year 's lead grosser.

Catalan Lingo Although the official Andorran

language is Catalan, the Barcelona regional mixture of French a n d Spanish, all films carry e i t h e r French or Spanish tracks, depend­ing on where they originate — Paris or Bacelona.

Television is no competition. There isn't any. But video is planned within two years. Two re­lay towers will be built this year to carry images from northern Spain. No concession for the sta­tion has been granted, but a Span­ish group has put in the first bid.

Two Andorran radio stations, operating with government permis­sion, reported good year. It had to be. Under an existing pact with the state, each station paid $20,000 into the treasury. In 1962, it'll be hiked to $40,000, and for the next 40 years, starting in 1963, the bill will be $60,000.

"Radio Andorra," Spanish owned.

is oldest, 22 years. "The Voice of the Valley," a French concern, started in 1959. Both count heavily on French, Spanish and Y a n k disks. Both are on air for 17 hours daily.

^Andorra has five night clubs, four here and one in Encamp, a mountain town near the French border. Moderately priced Tequila Club, where fno taxes again) drinks start at 12c (whiskey and soda). Andorra brags that it has the. cheapest alcohol in Europe, and no one argues.

Top nitery is the Pyrenees, open during the summer only and fea­turing a variety bill. No names, shows mostly Spanish. Cover is $1.50 and a drink is included. One step down is the Rosaleda at En­camp. Same prices and seasonal sked.

Menus angle up from $1.50. Tips aren ' t returned, but neither are they obligatory as in France.

Since 1940 when the tourist in­flux started, 40 hotels have gone up. Total is 100 now and 10 new ones are expected every y e a r through 1970. Costs are moderate.

The new 800-seat film "palace" is owned by apartment house prop Conrad Torrallardona, (and rep­resents an investment of $165,-000 (a million pesetas, the coun­try 's most used currency) . Torral­lardona will be the country's fourth cinema owner. Chief is En-ric Cassany, who has three, two in the capital here. Cassany, a banker, has a lot of savvy about future needs of tourists, plans some more enter ta inment facili­ties.

Looks Beaucoup Stars at Cannes

Cannes. The following are the interna­

tional stars and pic actors ex­pected as of now to make appear­ances at the forthcoming Cannes Film Fest, May 7-23.

From the U. S. are due^Kather-ine Hepburn, Angie Dickinson, Eva Marie-Saint, Natalie Wood, Warren Beatty, Gene Tierney, Wal­t e r Pidgeon, Charles Laughton, Burt Lancaster.

France will have Michele Mor­gan, Corinne Marchand, Danielle Darrieux, Edwige Feuillere, Annie Girardot, Renato Salvatori, Rich­ard Todd, Rossana Schiaffino. For Italy, Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg, Marcello Mastroianni, Vittorio De Sica, Daniella Rocca, Stefania San-drelli .

I rene Pappas comes in for Greece; Maurice Ronet, Corinne Marchand 'again), Nanette Seng-hoz for Congo, Roger Pigaut, Ni­cole Courcel, Sophie M'Ball for Senegal, and Charles Boyer and Lili Palmer for Austria.

Rita Tushingham and Deborah Ker r will be in for Great Britain and many reps are awaited from the other participating countries as well as top Yank stars on the Continent or French and Italo personages who can make it.

Impor te r -Turns -Ac to r Bryant Haliday, who with Cy

Harvey heads Janus Films, distrib this side for Ingmar Bergman pix and other class product, is the only U.S. indie who is also an actor.

Haliday, who has done extensive stage and tv work, makes his fea­tu re film bow in the French gang­ster melodrama, "Time Gentlemen Please," produced by Rene Theve-net and costarring (with Haliday) Jul iet te Mayniel, Bernadette Laf-font and Pieree Michel.

While Janus doesn't , anticipate distributing the pic here, the com­pany has a production investment in the film, which was shot in Normandy and Paris last summer. Film already has had first dates in the French provinces and opens in Paris shortly.

In addition to his interest as an actor in doing the film, Haliday says he was seeking the experience "on both sides of the camera" in preparat ion for possible future pro­duction ventures by Janus .

Films Set at Cannes Fest Continued from page 20

"Mondo Cane" (Invited) (A Dog's World)

Director:-G. Jacopetti, Paolo Cavara, Franco Prosper] , A montage pic on the world as it is.

FRANCE "Les Amants De Terue l" (Official)

(Lovers of Teruel) Director: Raymond Rouleau with Ludmilla Tcherina.

A drama about a girl driven mad by love. Filmed completely as a ballet.

"Le Proces De Jeanne D'Arc" (Invited) (Trial of Joan of Arc) I

The trial and burning of the French saint done with nonactors. "Cleo De 5 a 7" (Invited)

(Cleo From 5 to 7) Director: Agnes Varda with Corinne Marchand, Antonie Bourseiller.

A pret ty but fairly silly girl finds out she may have cancer. Film details her wait for results. (Reviewed in VARIETY, Dec. 20, '61J

GREAT BRITAIN "The Innocents" (20th) (Official)

Director: Jack Clayton with Deborah Kerr .

A film version of the ghost story of Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw." (Reviewed in VARIETY, Dec. 6, '61)

"A Taste of Honey" (Invited) Director: Tony Richardson with Rita Tushingham.

Shelagh Deianey's play filmed and about a young girl and a profligate mother. (Reviewed in VARIETY, Sept. 20, '61.) '

ARGENTINA "Soixante Fois Sept" (Official)

(60 Times Seven) Director: Leopoldo Torre Nilsson with Isabelle Sarli, Francisco Rabal.

A woman torn between two men.

AUSTRIA "Julia Du Bist Zauberhaft" (Official)

(Adorable Julia) Director: M. Weidenmann • with Lili Palmer, Charles Boyer, Jean Sorel.

An aging theatrical beauty's last fling.

BRAZIL "O Pagador De Promessas" (Official)

(The Given Word) • Director: Anselmo Duarte with Leonardo Vilar, Gloria Meneses.

A peasant tries to fulfill a vow almost thwarted by church officials.

CONGO "Konga Yo" (Official)

Director: Yves Allegret with Roger Pigaut, Nicole Courcel, Guy Dikolo.

A group of French people caught during the Congo troubles. Done by a French director.

A fantasy about a space traveler who comes back to ear th

In 2447 and turns out to be a vain monster alongside the new people.

BULGARIA "Peneno Yato" (Official)

(The Captive Bird) Director: Dutcho Mundrov

A group of prisoners during the last war and how they keep from talking .under tor ture .

FORMOSA "Yang Kwei Fel" (Official)

Director: Li Han-Hsiang with Li Li-Hua, Yen Chuan, Li Hsiang-Chun. A courtesan of an ancient Emperor sacrifices herself for him. She is Yang Kwei Fei.

GREECE "Electra" (UA) (Official)

Director: Michael Cacoyannis with Irene Pappas, Yannis Fertis, Aleka Catseli.

Euripides' t ragedy filmed by noted Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis detailing the revenge of a brother and sister on their unfaithful mother who has destroyed the father.

INDIA "Devi" (Official)

(The Goddess) Director: Satyajit Ray with Sharmila Tagore, Chabi Biswas, Karuna Banerjee.

Superstition forces a girl to act as a reincarnated goddess to be shown up and leading to tragedy.

LEBANON "Le Petit Etranger (Official)

Director: Georges M. Nasser with Vasso Gabriel, Chakib Courie, Laura Azar.

A tale of a young boy hardened by his early rub with the adult world.

MOROCCO "Les Enfants Du Soleil" (Official)

(Children of the Sun) Director: Jacques Severac with Mustapha Brick, Mohamed Zoubir, Anina.

A young boy's at tempts to help his poor mother and his coming of age.

RUMANIA " S -A Furat O Bomba" (Official)

(A Bomb Is Stolen) Director: Ion Popesco-Gopo

A satire on a stolen atomic bomb and how it is finally used peacefully.

SENEGAL •Xiberte 1" (Official)

Director: Yves Ciampi with Corinne Marchand, Maurice Ronet.

Made by a French director and concerning how superstit ion is overcome during the building of a road held up by a holy native relic. French directed.

YUGOSLAVIA "Dvoje" (Official)

(He and She) Director: Aleksander Pettrovic with Beba Loncar, Miha Baloh.

A tale of the breaking up of a couple.

ISRAEL "Baal Ha Khalomot" (Official)

(Joseph and His Brothers) Director: Alina and Yoram Gross

The Biblical tale of Joseph and his brothers told by the use of animated puppets.

SPAIN "Placido" (Official)

Director: Luis Berlange with Casto Sendra Cassen, Jose Vazquez.

About a group of reluctant well-to-do people accepting poor people for Christmas dinner and its consquences. (Reviewed in VARIETY, Jan. 17, '62)

JAPAN "Cupola" (Official)

(Dome) Director: Kiriro Urayama with Eijiro Tono, Yoshiro Ichikawa.

Modern tale about workers in a steel furnace.

POLAND "Dom Bez Okien" (Official)

(The Impossible Goodbye) Director: Stanislaw Jedryka with Wieslaw Golas, Josef Kondrat, Jan Swiderski.

Story of an ambulant circus and the difficulty of jts members in breaking with it as it becomes obsolete.

MEXICO "L'Ange Exterminatcur" (Official)

(The Exterminating Angel) Director: Luis Bunuel with Silvia Pinal, Xavier Masse, Ofelia Montesco.

Tale of a group of rich people inexplicably unable to leave a chateau and how they fall into morose perversity.

RUSSIA "Na Cemuvetra" (Official)

(To the Four Winds) Director: Stanislas Rostovsky

Story of a girl waiting for her fiancee in a little house in the Russo provinces during the last war and the men that come by during her wait as the war approaches.

WEST GERMANY "Das Brot Der Fruhen J a h r e " (Official)

(The Bread of the Young Years) Director: Herbert Vesely with Charistian Doermer, Karne Blanguernon.

Story of youthful love and self realization. Two pix out of competition are (a) the Italo sketch pic "Boccaccio

70" directed by Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti and Mario Monicelli with Anita Ekberg, Sophia, Loren, Romy Schneider. Tomos Milian and (b) the French episodic pic "Le Crime Ne Paie Pas (Crime Does Not Pay) directed by Gerard Oury with Michele Morgan, Edward Feuillere, P ier re Brasseur, Annie Girardot. "Boccaccio" begins fest May 1 and "Cr ime" winds it May 23.