--- description: LIFE.com presents classic photos from Cannes that perfectly convey the glamour and blithe sensuality that set the festival apart. title: Cannes: Classic Photos From the World's Most Glamorous Film Fest image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee41b91a1702a38/69884714428a9ecec6ccc48d/05_001128558.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [celebrity](/tag/celebrity/) ## celebrity Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # LIFE at Cannes: Classic Photos From the World's Most Glamorous Film Fest by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 13, 2014 7:30 PM CUT  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962. Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962.Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 13, 2014 7:30 PM CUT Maybe it’s the setting. It’s probably the setting. It has to be the setting. After all, [Sundance](http://www.sundance.org/festival/ "undefined") has snow-capped mountains (lovely and picturesque). Berlin has the Brandenburg Gate (monumental and historic). Tribeca has those tall, orange-and-white steam-vent things on every street corner (Hollywood shorthand for “gritty urban landscape”). But of all the world’s great film festivals, only Cannes materializes each spring on the absurdly beautiful French Riviera; only Cannes manages to convey a sense of playful decadence lit by the Mediterranean sun, rather than by streetlights and camera flashes; only Cannes is . . . [_Cannes_](http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html "undefined"). Here, as the 67th edition of the film extravaganza gets underway, LIFE.com presents a gallery of pictures, many of which never ran in LIFE, from Cannes five decades ago: photos that still, today, convey the glamour and the blithe sensuality that set the festival apart from all others.  French starlet Philomene Toulouse angling for attention with her pet fox and bare torso at the Cannes Film Festival. PAUL SCHUTZER Of the celebrated (or, at least, the time-honored) tradition of unknown and little-known actresses and models posing for hordes of photographers pretty much anywhere they can find a spot to stand, sit or sprawl, LIFE noted in its June 15, 1962, issue that “the hunt for attention becomes so fierce at Cannes that you can’t tell the hunters from the hunted.” --- > “” --- --- > “” --- As for Natalie Wood, who appears in several photographs in this gallery, LIFE was positively fulsome in its praise of the 24-year-old star who, by the time she wowed the critics and crowds at Cannes in 1962, had already acted (and in many cases had starred) in more than 30 films: --- > “” ---  A scene at Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. German actress Elke Sommer at Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Elke Sommer at Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographers, Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Photographers, Cannes Film Festival, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A Dutch actress, her name lost to history, poses for photographers at Cannes in 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Natalie Wood relaxes on a sailboat during the 1962 Cannes Film Festival. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Waiting for a glimpse of movie stars, Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Faces in the crowd, Cannes Film Festival, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Orchestra, Cannes Film Festival, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. An American serviceman admires passersby in Cannes, 1962. Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3879831/cannes-classic-photos-from-worlds-most-glamorous-film-fest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3879831/cannes-classic-photos-from-worlds-most-glamorous-film-fest/"},"headline":"LIFE at Cannes: Classic Photos From the World's Most Glamorous Film Fest","datePublished":"2014-05-13T19:30:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:42.676Z","description":"As the 67th edition of the Cannes Film Festival gets underway, LIFE presents pictures from Cannes in 1962 that, five decades later, still convey the glamor and the blithe sensuality that set the festival apart.","url":"https://time.com/3879831/cannes-classic-photos-from-worlds-most-glamorous-film-fest/","keywords":["celebrity","France","movies","photography","Actor","Ben Cosgrove","Liz Ronk","Cannes","actress","Paul Schutzer","1962"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee41b91a1702a38/69884714428a9ecec6ccc48d/05_001128558.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6ee41b91a1702a38/69884714428a9ecec6ccc48d/05_001128558.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cannes Film Festival 1962, Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty","caption":"Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty, Cannes, 1962.","creditText":"Paul Schutzer—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrity/","name":"celebrity"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3879831/cannes-classic-photos-from-worlds-most-glamorous-film-fest/","name":"LIFE at Cannes: Classic Photos From the World's Most Glamorous Film Fest"}}]}] ```