WILD ITALIANS.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 409, 16 April 1937, Page 2

WILD ITALIANS.

CINEMA WRECKED. Taking Fascism to China. A mob of 100 Italian Fascists, including many uniformed sailors and marines from the Kalian gunboat Lepanto, raided the Isis Theatre, Shanghai, where a Russian film of Premier Mussolini’s conquest of Ethiopia wat being exhibj.ed. The mob, v'hich was said to have been led by an official of the Kalian Embassy, arrived in mo‘tor_cars. It smashed iit>s way into the theatre and allegedly fired 12 shots over Ithe heads of the terrorised audience, which included a la.rge number of women and children. Using iron bars and clubs, the Italians smashed mirrors and decorations and rushed the projection room, where two Russians, A. Abramovitch and M. Irishenko, offered resistance. The Italians, using revolver butts, beat 'the operators inito insensibility. Abramovitch suffered a broken arm. The mob tore Lhe film from a. projection machine, poured acid over a large stock of films stored in the •oom, smashed the projection machines, and carried off the offending .Aim. The film showed Mussolini’s 'planes bombing E hiopian villages and his 'troops, backed by tanks, planes and artillery, seizing towns. While one group of the mob smashed the interior of the theatre, another group brandished revolvers in front of the building and drove av.'ay a small force of Chinese police When the destruction was completed, die Italians returned to theirs cars and sped to the international secernent. The damage was estimated at 25,000 dollars. On two previous occasions Italians have raided* local theatres and destroyed films, which in both instances were American made. says a Shanghai correspondent. One was “Street Angel” and the other a World War newsreel Milch showed Italians being chased by Austrian troops l in the Alps. When the Russian-made Ethiopian film was first exhibited here it had the approval of the censors, but Commander L. ltalian. Consul* General, put pressure on local Chinese officials and forced the’ theatre to discontinue showing it. The Kalian Ambassador then made a -deal with the Nanking Foreign Office whereby the two nations agreed to suppress films which either regarded as objectionable. This aroused misgivings on the pant of American film agencies, Which charged that there was a Fascist, scheme behind the agreement. The Chinese proprietor of the Isis Theatre had his- film inspected by the Nanking censors. They delated parts of it and again approved it. Russian authorities at Shangiai are planning a protest. The Ethiopian film .was handled by an American company.