TWO-FOLD ALLEGORY

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 43, 6 March 1937, Page 11

TWO-FOLD ALLEGORY

. ? Throughout. the drama. Scipio jn.crcanus ■ reveals the heroic and romautxc qualities attributed -to him by Livy pl'us the glamour created by the grandiose staging of modern cinematography at.its best. . Although historically accuratedn'the main lixieis of the plot, Eascist Italy has not failed to drive home the lessons of a two-fold allegory.. . Eirst, the film . demonstrates the struggle between two different civilisations, showing the "judgment of God" represented by. a history which condemns a non-creative ' Carthage to-dis-appear and a creative Eome to dominate .the world. . Secondly, 'the film makes the mighty past of Eome a visible — an axmost • tangijbie — inspiration for the present generation of Italiana and for the future of the -City on ihe Seven Hills — Eoma Genetrix.Minor figures and events are "Woven into the story with more attention to human interest than historical ■ accuracy. Nevertheless, no one will quarrel over the lovc episode of Yelia or-with the rather melodramatic treatment of , the triangle of Sophonisba, King' Masinisssa, and Syphax. It must have .been melodramatic in all conscience in; 203 B.O., so why not in A.D. 1936? But the moving power of the whole drama is conveyed more by mass scenes rather than ,by individual actions, although the epilogue is a tiny scene of moving and symbolic fcharm. Scipio Africanus, in the peaceful retxrement of a country villa, thrusts his hand into a sack of grain. As the seeds fall through his fingers he exclaims: "This is good grain. With the help of tho gods we shall begin sowing now."