The eighth Cannes Film Festival was held again in the spring, but it pushed from late March to April 26-May 10, 1955.
The Golden Palm (Palme d’Or) went to the American independent film, Marty, by Delbert Mann.
Highlights: Rififi, Carmen Jones
The festival opened with the seminal crime thriller Rififi by Jules Dassin.
It closed with the all-black musical, Carmen Jones, by Otto Preminger, starring Dorothy Dandridge, who would become the first black woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.
Jury Members:
For the first time, the jury composition was more diverse, including actors from Italy (Isa Miranda), directors like European-born Hollywood-based Anatole Litvak (Anastasia), and Soviet representatives such as Sergei Yutkevich.
Even so, half of the jury was still composed of French figures.
Marcel Pagnol (France) (president); writer and director
Marcel Achard (France)
Juan Antonio Bardem (Spain)
A. Dignimont (France)
Jacques-Pierre Frogerais (France)
Leopold Lindtberg (Switzerland)
Anatole Litvak (USA)
Isa Miranda (Italy)
Leonard Mosley (UK)
Jean Nery (France)
Sergei Yutkevich (Soviet Union)
Jacques Doniol-Valcroze (France) (short films)
Herman van der Horst (Netherlands) (short films)
Marcel Ichac (France) (short films)
Karl Korn (West Germany) (short films)
Jean Perdrix (France) (short films)
Feature Films Competition
The competition lineup was the largest ever, consisting of no less than 34 movies.
For the first time, Hollywood films amounted to one fourth of the competition titles, some of which high profile titles, such as Kazan’s East of Eden, starring James Dean (who would die in a car accident five months later, Sep. 30).
Bad Day at Black Rock by John Sturges (US)
Biraj Bahu by Bimal Roy
Bolshaya Semya by Iosif Kheifits
Boot Polish by Prakash Arora
Carmen Jones by Otto Preminger (US)
Chikamatsu Monogatari by Kenji Mizoguchi
Continente perduto by Leonardo Bonzi, Mario Craveri, Enrico
Gras, Angelo Francesco Lavagnino and Giorgio Moser
The Country Girl by George Seaton (US)
Det brenner i natt! by Arne Skouen
Le Dossier noir by André Cayatte
Rififi (Du rififi chez les homes) by Jules Dassin
East of Eden by Elia Kazan (US)
The End of the Affair by Edward Dmytryk (UK); blacklisted in exile in Europe.
Un extraño en la escalera by Tulio Demicheli
Geroite na Shipka by Sergei Vasilyev
Giv’a 24 Eina Ona by Thorold Dickinson (set in Israel)
L’oro di Napoli by Vittorio De Sica
Hayat ou maut by Kamal El Sheikh
Jedda by Charles Chauvel
A Kid for Two Farthings by Carol Reed (UK)
Liliomfi by Károly Makk
Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs by Helmut Käutner
Marcelino pan y vino by Ladislao Vajda
Marty by Delbert Mann (US)
Die Mücke by Walter Reisch
Onna no koyomi by Seiji Hisamatsu
Psohlavci by Martin Frič
Raíces by Benito Alazraki
Romeo i Dzhulyetta by Lev Arnshtam and Leonid Lavrovsky
Samba Fantástico by Jean Manzon and René Persin
Senhime by Keigo Kimura
Il segno di Venere by Dino Risi
Stella by Michael Cacoyannis, starring Melina Mercouri
Awards
Golden Palm: Marty by Delbert Mann
Jury Special Prize: Lost Continent by Leonardo Bonzi, Mario Craveri, Enrico Gras, Angelo Francesco Lavagnino and Giorgio Moser
Best Actor: Tie
Spencer Tracy for Bad Day at Black Rock (also nominated for the Best Actor Oscar; the Oscar winner was Borgnine for Marty).
Ensemble:
Sergei Lukyanov, Boris Andreyev, Aleksey Batalov, Sergei Kurilov, Vadim Medvedev, Boris Bityukov, Nikolai Gritsenko, Pavel Kadochnikov, Boris Kokovkin and Nikolai Sergeyev for Bolshaya Semya
Best Actress:
Ensemble: Yelena Dobronravova, Vera Kuznetsova, Klara Luchko, Yekaterina Savinova, Iya Arepina and Larisa Kronberg for Bolshaya Semya
Best Director: Tie
Jules Dassin for Rififi
Sergei Vasilyev for Geroite na Shipka
Special Mention:
Naaz for her child actress performance in Boot Polish
Pablito Calvo for child actor performance in Marcelino pan y vino
Short Film Palme d’Or: Blinkity Blank
Special Distinction – Short Film: Zolotaya antilopa by Lev Atamanov
Best Short Documentary: Isole di fuoco by Vittorio De Seta
Best Dramatic Film: East of Eden by Elia Kazan
Best Lyrical Film: Romeo i Dzhulyetta by Lev Arnshtam and Leonid Lavrovsky
FIPRESCI Prize (International Critics Prize)
Muerte de un ciclista by Juan Antonio Bardem
Roots by Benito Alazraki
OCIC Award: Marty by Delbert Mann
OCIC Award – Special Mention: Marcelino pan y vino by Ladislao Vajda
