JORGE AMADO MONICA FELTON "i ANNA SEGHERS CCORDING to the Financial making “inroads” in Canada. One may remark, ‘in passing, that it is scarcely surprising ‘that this ‘big business journal this subject, culture being in its language a matter of dollars, and American dollars at that. If it is as a ‘threat to the mori- bund imports from Hollywood and Tin Pan Alley that it sees .this people’s culture, and as the answer 'to ““kultur” for war, then it has good cause for con- cern. This reflection is prompted by the magnificent program pre- setned on Monday his week ‘by the United Jewish People’s Order, which is to be congratu- lated for bringing this outstand- ing example of people’s art to Vancouver. Emil Gartner, as the founder and conductor of the famous Jewish Folk Choir in Toronto, is well-known, but Emil Gartner, the singer, the sensitive interpreter of true people’s music, deserves a much wider audience ‘than the 600 or so hearts and minds he cap- _ tured Monday night in a packed Peter Pan Ballroom here. To- gether with his wife Fagel, her- “self an outstanding pianist and the brilliant young soprano of ‘the Jewish Folk Choir, Clare Klein, both of whom deserve a review in themselves, he show- ed how, without abandoning any of its classical forms link- to weld it to ‘the present and the future. If there is one single thought which can express the essence - of this performance, it is that contained in one of the new American songs of the people presented: you cannot jail or _ kill ideas—they will grow even out of concentration camps and ghettos. So you cannot kill art, ple, if it expresses their deepest hopes for a fair and peaceful world, then it must gorw and flourish. _ The richness indicated ‘by the choice of their songs, ranging from the 16th century German song of the Peasants’ Revolt, Die Gedanken _. sind frei, to the newest song of this continent, Earl Robinson's Quilting Bee. . Post, ‘progressive culture is should devote a full page to. ing it with ‘the past, music can be given a vital new content if it is rooted deep in the peo- and — breadth of the repertoire of these amazing artists was only CAPACITY AUDIENCE HEARS EMIL GARTNER UJPO music, drama group — scores success in city concert | Vancouver tion by three talented members of the UJPO Drama Workshop of Jules Allen Wein’s tone poem Genesis and Scholem Aleichem’s dialogue It’s a Lie. The skilful simplicity of the staging of the -former was most effective in assisting the actors to portray ‘the lessons of this moving poem of the victims of Nazism who on the seventh day rise to make a new world. Since its formation some two years ago, the UJPO Drama Workshop has made tremen- dous progress and the proof of this. was given on Monday in itself had @ notable contribution to make to the. evening with the presenta- the high standard of acting set « - by ‘Gertrude ‘Snider, Nate Wise- man and Oscar. Osipov. There are but two criticisms one could -offer of this inspir- ing and memorable evening. Perhaps the UJPO was too gen- erous—in that wealth of tal- ent ‘there was material for more than one performance. And it is regrettable that’ it was not possible to allow these brilliant artists to be enjoyed by a larger audience. Let us hope ‘that on Emil Gartner’s next visit many more Vancouver’ people will have the opportunity to see for themselves what people’s art really means. - —ROSALEEN ROSS. KUO MO-JO Stalin peace prizes Four writers are among those who have been awarded 1951 international Stalin prizes “for the promotion of peace among naticns.” Jorge Amado is a Brazilian noyelist whose works are popularly read throughout Latin America. ‘Monica Feiton; ‘a British novelist, was a mem- ber of the special commission of the Women’s International Democratic Federation which visited Korea last year. Her forthright statements . against the .war incurred. the govern- ment’s wrath and she was dis- missed from her government position, Anna Seghers, whose novels are widely read in Can- ada, has a long record of fight- ing for the interests of the German people against fascism. : Kuo Mo-jo, one of People’s China’s best known public fig- ures, is leader of the interna- tional peace movement. Writer and historian, he is president, of jthe Chinese Academy of Sciences. ET Eee a DTT VT JM Capsule Reviews AN AMERICAN IN PARIS Hollywood, at last, breaks wtih its stereotyped musical comedy formula. Weak story but excellent dance numbers featuring Gene Kelly and Leslie ‘Caron. DETECTIVE STORY Pseudo “realistic”? story of a_ hard-boiled honest detective with a passionate hatred for all eriminals. The plot frames some scenes of shocking brutal- ity, involves the anti-human ap- proach so conspicuous in Ace in the Hole, Kirk Douglas’ earlier vehicle. , THE WELL Highly contrived story in which a “race riot” is prevented when Negro and white residents unite to rescue a little girl who falls down a well. Despite weaknesses in many ‘respects, it~ is the best of the “Negro in- terest’ films to come out of Hollywood. THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE Stephen Crane’s realistic novel, intended to debunk the romantic approach to _ war, emerges on the screen at this moment in the nation’s history almost as a well-done recruiting film, THE DESERT FOX Hollywood essays to make a glamorous hero out of General Erwin Rommel, the Nazi killer who led Hitler’s armies in North Africa. THE BROWNING VERSION Well-made, well-acted but socially insignificant British film dealing with ‘trials of pe- dantic teacher. Gentle ribbing of English public school system. Michael Redgrave. GUIDE TO GOOD READING ~ IN THE CLOSING pages of his Fortress In The Rice, Ben- ' jamin Appel has Dave McVey, the Usaffe lieutenant, placing ‘a grain of rice in the dead hand -of this friend, Manuel Careo, - the murdered Hukbalahap lead- er, and flinging a handful of -Yice, as though it were a hand - grenade, into the faces of Car: eo’s executioners. - This is the symbolic climax ta this powerful novel which draws its inspiration from’ the magnificent struggle of the Fili- pino people; against the Ameri- cans who refused to co-operate with the Hukbalahap anti-Jap- anese resistance movement be- cause they feared it might then ~be able to assert the true in- _ dependence of the Philippines at the end of the war; against the Japanese invaders with their Spurious promises of independ-. ence; and against the Filipino collaborationists and the hacien- ; deros — the plantation owners ' who organized and armed their own “resistance” movement when Japanese defeat became a certainty in order to retain their vast wealth and their land . holdings, rendered forfeit by ‘their collaboration with the Jap- -anese. : : t Rice, the people who grow the rice and the hacienderos who exploit’ them and garner the ‘harvest, provide the theme for _ Appel’s novel. : The Japanese wanted the rice to feed their conquering armies Epic novel of people's and as a weapon to control the peoples of the territories their armies conquered. The collab- orationists wanted the rice so that they could resell it to the Japanese and build new for- tunes for themselves. And the Huks, because they were of the people, wanted ‘the rice only for ‘the people themselves. They, too, saw the rice as a weapon— for the people against all their exploiters and oppressors. Within this vast outline of struggle, from ‘the first days of the Japanese invasion to the return of the American armies, Appel thas woven together all separate and yet inseparable details of conflict to create a novel of epic proportions. His characters, from Narciso Fer- rer, the haciendero who ration- alized ‘his acceptance of a min- istry in the collaborationist government as astute patriot- ism, to Joe Trent, the one-time stvikebreaker and product of jimcrow America who despised and hated the Filipinos, come to life in ‘the vivid pages of Fortress In The Rice because ‘they have been created in a liv- ing background. f ‘ Appel does not hesitate to Tesi: cord the details of American ‘betrayal (in the United States today ‘smothered beneath - six years of cold war propaganda but remembered still through. out the length of the Philip- pines), as in the unforgettable , Scene where the Hukbalahaps \ struggle in Philippines wait for MacArthur’s planes to drop them arms and medicines. “Taruc had pin-pointed the area for the sky delivery, set the hours, described the torches. And so they were waiting for the materiel that would be used to prevent the Japanese from plundering the last harvest of the war, the harvest of the lib- eration. ... “Hour after hour. “They will not come.’ ad ‘They will.’ ‘No.’ % = “Under the stars the watch- ers became more and more silent. ' Finally their leaders or- dered the torches extinguished. From ‘the rice the Hukbalahap rose to their feet. .For a sec- ond it seemed as though the lush earth had suddenly sent forth another crop; man, plant of hope and despair, savior and eater of his brother. “Empty of all sound was the | sky,” t Ro3 523 APPEL, WHO went to the Philippines in 1945 as special assistant to U.S. High Commis- sioner Paul V. McNutt, writes’ in his author’s note: ; ; “It seems to me that we Am- ericans will not win any friends in Asia by merely takling dem- : ‘ocracy while we denounce Com- munist tyranny... . : “It seems to me that Ameri- cans must recognize the Phil- ippine facts of life—the facts of life and death for all Asia— and then try to meet the chal- lenge of these facts with facts just real: with food for the hungry, with medicines and ma- chines, with and education. .. .” : This statement denotes a weakness in Appel’s thinking, . just as his failure to bring out the organizational and inspira- tional role of the Communists constitutes the principal weak- ness of his novel. Neverthe- less, it is hard to believe ‘that he cannot see this weakness. Food is a weapon for the American imperialists as . it was for the Japanese. shipments to India in an effort to policy?) Industrialization is a means of exploiting the peoples of Asia directly or indirectly industrialization — (Didn't — the U.S. Congress hold up grain influence India’s foreign — under U.S. domination and ex - tracting super-profits from their (Didn't Wall Street interests take over — deepening poverty. the Japanese industrial empire _in South Korea?) - Whatever Appel’s misplaced idealism, Fortress In The Rice, with the shortcoming already — noted, is a splendid piece of. creative writing and one of the few good novels to come out of postwar America. People’s Co-operative Bookstore, 337 West Pender ‘Street, it iS one book on which no progres- sive reader will begrudge spend ing the money—_HAL GRIFFIN © _ PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JANUARY 25, 1952 — PAGE 8 Priced at $4.25 and obtainable ‘here at the Pe ORO oes en .