PANDERING TO GERMANY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 287, 24 February 1928, Page 1

PANDERING TO GERMANY

FILM CENSORS ACCUSED

FRESH FUEL ADDED TO CONTROVERSY

By Cable. — Prcts Association. — Copyright. Received 9.30 a.m. LONDON, Thursday. THE withdrawal of the film “Mare Nostrum,” also in deference to German opinion, has added fresh fuel to the fire over the “Dawn” controversy. The “Daily Mail” describes this as “knuckling under to Germany.”

pURTHERMOEE, it is recalled that a number ot scenes in the film “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” were deleted when the picture was first shown in America, following representations by the German Consul-General at Washington. The “Daily Mail” pertinently asks why the Board of Censors has just passed the- German film of the World War through German spectacles, featuring “Big Bertha” shelling Paris. It says that the Foreign Secretary, Sir Austen Chamberlain, has placed the Government in an untenable position over “Dawn.” Tbe producer of “Dawn,” Mr. Wilcox, has decided to screen it at the Albert Hall before a representative audience, including members of the House of Commons. The chairman of the Board of Film ! Censors, Mr. T. P. O'Connor, when | interviewed by Mr. Wilcox concerning the board’s refusal to issue a licence for the picture, said the board was bound to consider the opinions

of the statesmen of Europe.' By so doing it was directly helping in tbe effort to bring about the pacification of Europe. It was tbe theme, not the treatment, of “Dawn” which the board regarded as objectionable. The members believed the Home Office was’as much opposed to the film as the Foreign Office. The hoard felt it was hound to take the action it did. Its decision was final and binding, and would be almost universally accepted by the licensing authorities. The “Evening Standard” says it is the settled policy of Germany, by direct and indirect diplomatic pressure, to secure the suppression ot films offensive to national susceptibilities.—A. and N.Z.-Sun. An earlier message stated that in addition to "Dawn,” the producers had withdrawn the film -‘Mare Nostrum, a jj indictment of the U-boat warfare, and it was expected that “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" would also be suppressed.