NAZI FILM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 167, 31 May 1940, Page 6

NAZI FILM

SCREENING IN ITALY OF POLAND'S "BAPTISM OF BLOOD" THE AUDIENCE CHEEKS A distinguished company filled the Salla della Quirinetta recently at the invitation of the German Ambassador, Herr von Mackensen, to see the first. German film of the Avar. Count Ciano. the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, was the guest of honour. The uniforms of representatives of the Italian Army, Navy and Air Force, the Civil Service and. the Fascist party made a brilliant scene in the hall. As n compliment to their Italain allies the Germans had arranged that the "world,-first-perfor-mance" of the film, Avhich is called '"A Baptism of Blood," should be given in Rome. The first performance in Berlin is to-night. Tactful Omissions. The film deals -with the invasion of Poland by the German forces and is described in a glowing notice in the Popolo di Roma as attaining its object in presenting a documentary record of the campaign from the beginning to the conclusion. However, there are certain omissions. Such heroic feats of the German Air Force as bombing delenceless villages, or chasing and shooting peasant 'women running tor their lives across the fields are not i^iveri. "The company," says a report in the Italian press, "followed the aim with the most lively interest, and the end applauded with- fervour.'' This is all the more remarkable because an Ambassador of the Polish Republic remains in Rome and is still the accredited representative of Poland at the Court of the King of Italy. A Hint to Italy? Possibly the object of the German Ambassador, or the German foreign Office under Avhose instructions he was acting, to let Italians see what happens to people who do not obey the orders of Berlin. After the performance Herr von Mackensen held a reception and received the congratulations of the company on the excellent entertainment. They doubtless forgot that here in Rome there arc still Italians who cherish the memory of the Poles who fought and died side by side with Italians in the struggle for the unity and liberty of Italy.