CANNES, France (AFP) - With the Cannes film festival shrouded in drizzle, Harrison Ford took a stroll on the beach Friday under an umbrella instead of his crumpled "Indiana Jones" fedora.

Ford was in the Riviera city ahead of the world release of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on Sunday, the high point of this year's film fest.

With Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Cate Blanchett also already in town the entrance to Cannes' famed Carlton Hotel was Friday turned into a giant gate to an Indiana Jones movie.

Decorated with skulls, snakes and Aztec-looking skulls, the portico of the celebrated early 20th-century Riviera hotel featured pictures of Ford and Blanchett along with the title of the movie and its worldwide release date -- May 22.

The swashbuckling archaeologist famous for his fedora and cracking bullwhip returns after 19 years for the fourth episode in the saga, the most eagerly anticipated blockbuster of the year.

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