14/05/2019

The beach front at Cannes with red flags in the foreground

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Bill Collins at Cannes

Mr Movies Bill Collins at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival

Mr Movies at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival

Tara Marynowsky

& Nathan Smith

We look back at how Australia's Mr Movies – film critic and presenter Bill Collins (1934–2019) – reported from the Cannes Film Festival in 1976 for a Channel 7 TV special, Australia in Cannes.

From Queen Kong to Caligula

Here Bill introduces the festival and gives a taste of some of the films that screened. He presents us with an elaborate pin board full of maps and festival film flyers. In his characteristic presenting fashion, he enthuses about everything from Queen Kong: The Liberated Lady Gorilla to Bernardo Bertolucci’s 314-minute epic 1900:

Bill Collins introduces the Cannes Film Festival. Excerpt from Bill Collins: Australia in Cannes, 1976. Courtesy Seven Network. NFSA title: 35684. This clip is almost a travelogue of Cannes but also provides a useful overview of the festival. Collins' enthusiasm overrides the otherwise unsophisticated production values, notably key visual elements consisting of daybills pinned to a noticeboard.

Meeting Mad Dog

'Australians are everywhere', Bill says, spotting many familiar faces on the Promenade de la Croisette, at the hotels, bars and sidewalk cafes – all there to buy and sell films.

On the sidewalk, Bill catches up with American actor Dennis Hopper who is promoting two films: Tracks (Henry Jaglom, USA, 1976) and Mad Dog Morgan (Philippe Mora, 1976).

Hopper says that bushranger Dan Morgan in Mad Dog was the most demanding role he'd ever played:

Bill Collins interviews Dennis Hopper about Mad Dog Morgan at the Cannes Film Festival. Excerpt from Bill Collins: Australia in Cannes, 1976. Courtesy Seven Network. NFSA title: 35684. This interview has a certain unrehearsed charm. Unfortunately Collins is at a disadvantage from not having seen the film yet and seems on occasion to be a little distracted, stumbling over his questions.

The Australian Film Commission is promoting a new wave of Australian cinema with a special season of screenings including Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975), Caddie (Donald Crombie, 1976), The Trespassers (John Duigan, 1976), The Fourth Wish (Don Chaffey, 1976), Let the Balloon Go (Oliver Howes, 1976) and Mad Dog Morgan.

'It's like Surfers Paradise'

On the beach, Bill discovers director Peter Weir playing his part in a memorable stunt to promote Picnic at Hanging Rock. Jack Thompson is there, along with a picnic party of young women in white dresses.

While Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver wins the Palme d’Or, Fred Schepsi causes a sensation in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar with his feature film debut, the semi-autobiographical The Devil’s Playground, about growing up in a Catholic boys' boarding school.

In the following clip, Bill also catches up with Fred celebrating with cast members Nick Tate and Arthur Dignam:

Bill Collins meets directors Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock) and Fred Schepisi (The Devil's Playground) at the Cannes Film Festival. Excerpt from Bill Collins: Australia in Cannes, 1976. Courtesy Seven Network. NFSA title: 35684. A fairly wildly edited clip where we're not always quite sure what we're seeing or who we're listening to. Nonetheless, it's a real treat to see how Australian films like Picnic were promoted to international audiences in an earlier era.

Mr Movies

Bill Collins began presenting movies on television in 1963, as a producer and host of film appreciation segments on ABC’s Roundabout.

He later introduced movies on channels Nine (1967–74) and Seven (1975–79) and most famously for Channel Ten where he presented Bill Collins' Golden Years of Hollywood (1980–1995).

In 1987, he received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to film and television.

He signed with Foxtel for its launch in 1995 and retired from television in 2018.

Bill Collins