THE studios of Carlos
Onti, (husband of Sophia
men), Vittoria de Sica is
‘Y shooting scenes for the
adaptation of Jean-Paul
@’s play “Altona”.

D Sica, together with Ce-
Ws Zavattini and Abby
» of “Judgment at Nur-
ers” fame, has written
Script and, as he told a
Porter from the progressive
NM weekly Vie Nuove, the
= is “political and anti-
a, and about present day
Many.”

Sica, who has just cele-
led his 60th birthday, is
Vi%ably as famous an actor
7, “director. He is one of the
7" architects of Italy’s
¥“hdid postwar tradition of

famous being “Umberto
and “Bicycle Thieves.”
My More recent times his
a, Women”, based on Al-
,.- Moravia’s novel of the
€ title, won the Oscar for
tha Loren.
5 = * *
Recently the “Altona” com-
Picc, Went to Germany to
ne scenes. De Sica
‘eng Ophia Loren were vio-
ty” attacked in the West
a press for having
7h, .° East Berlin to work
ean Week with Bertolt
E ?s Berliner Ensemble.
7, 8stioned about these at-
‘Vy. PY the Vie Nuove jour-
gy, P° Sica replied: “What
i, SAY to you? It was a
5; 5Stration of stupidity.”
There Company had _ gone

because: “It was the

Tealistic films, two of his _

only theatre where, at pre-
sent, Brecht is keing per:
formed. rene

“Tn fact, we found all that
we had sought; wonderful
actors -— in my opinion, the
best in the world—working
perfectly and discover ing
something fresh every day.”

* * *

With a gesture of disgust
De Sica added: “We were at-
tacked (in the West) because
we went to that theatre in
the German Democratic Re-
public. The truth is they are
still riddled with hate, these
Germans ... ;

“They said to me: ‘You've
got the stomach to go to the

other side of the wall, where
there are those murderers?’

What should I have replied:
That in this other part, where
we were for a week (in Ham-
burg), there are the murder
ers of six million Jews.”
As his indignation increas-
ed, he said: “It is a terrible
country, where they have
forgotten everything because

.they wanted to. But every-

thing is being repeated.

“Their shameful past is
still there, to this very day,
and there is nothing to make
us feel they will not repeat
it. West Germany is still
deeply infected by nazism.
There are incidents, small
things if you like, but they
speak clearly.”

{)Mtro Hnatiuk, Soviet
7 Retist who will be ap-
‘, 28 in Victoria on Thurs-
To » October 11, and in Van-
 “ on Saturday, October
ty Was born in the village
Vin, (MAvivtsi, in the Buko-
Tegion of Ukraine.
4 Be Pst, while working in
Fing TY, he joined a choir
qi became active in the
Tie fur cultural groups of
Thay factory. His voice and
qj . Could not be overlook-
Teen? in 1945 he was ac-
Meat by the Chernivtsi
; Te of Musical Drama.
the 1946, Hnatiuk entered
it) °Y State Conservatory
ith UWSie, and studied voice
the ee renowned artist of
if “'€v Shevchenko Theatre
Peo and Ballet, Ivan
Hop tinsky, People’s Art-
Yeti, the U.S.S.R. Upon com-
My..° his studies at the con-
& sank he was accepted
Moy fal soloist in the Kiev
They eBko Theatre of
| Wipe? Ballet. :
hheg in the short span of
Matinee the beauty of
Vg, U's lyric baritone
* and his fine acting

Seu him a prominent
| WORTH
| READING.

¢ ch. ~

bias Church and Com-

}igo™: by Kenneth Leslie.
® $1.50

inyeneth Leslie — Canadian
Mie Poet and preacher—

for many who have

Silent; for those with
Mave SPiritual yearnings who
fy ose for someone 10
Nogy at loud what they in
b, ,. clieve—that socialism
lessing for the soul of

é

tural
» Pe iin

fo 44 & 3 TE Re
SOs Otte B| o: % Ft

Noted Soviet artist ..

place among the soloists of
the Theatre.
* * oo

During this period he per-
formed in a variety of roles
that included dramatic parts
and lyrical comedy, as well
as straight lyrical parts.
Among the many roles ‘the
played was the Demon in the
Rubenstein opera of the same
name; Onegin and Eletsky
in the operas ‘Eugene One-
gin” and “Queen of Spades”
by Chaikovsky; Prince Igor

in the opera of the same

name by Borodin; the roles
of Rigoletto and Renato in

MUSIC

the Verdi operas “Rigoletto”
and “Masquerade Ball”; Fig-
aro in Rossini’s ‘Barber of
Seville’; Valentine in Gou-
nod’s “Faust”; Teyramund in
Wagner’s “Tohengrin”; Sil-
vio in “Pagliacci” and Yan-

ush in  Moniushko’s opera ©

“Halka’’.

* Es

In addition to his operatic
activities, Hnatiuk is also a
popular concert aniist.. ms
repertoire consists of many
Ukrainian, Russian and other
Soviet compositions in the
classic tradition, together
with other world classics and
Ukrainian and Russian folk
songs.

As a reward for his serv-
ices in the field of vocal
music, Dmitro Hnatiuk was
awarded the title of Honored
Artist of Ukraine in 1958, and
people’s Artist of the U.S.S.R.
in 1960.

This tour is in conjunction
with the Canadian-Soviet cul:
exchange program.

Feo aN eus

vat | ie

He went on to describe two
such incidents that took place
in Western Germany. He had
borrowed from the Berliner
Ensemble an original record-
ing of one of Hitler’s speeches.

“You should have seen the
West German sound _ tech.
nicians the first time we
listened to this recording;
they paled with nostalgia
and pride for that past. It
was as if that voice evoked

"VITTORIA DE SICA

an echo..in-them:< ==”

With a look of disgust he
described another incident.
“Listen, do you know the
attitude of the West German
AOML ah 6 Weacs steers

In one scene the

main character is shown in
his room. On the wall is a
drawing of a man whom he
tortured during the war and
whose memory obsesses him.

“To study things more
closely myself I also referred

littoria de Sica on dual Germany

to a book, ‘Yellow Star,’ on
the persecution of the Jews.

“One day two young extras

started leafing through this
book; after a few seconds
they threw it aside with an
expression of disgust-as if to
say, ‘Must we see these things
again’?”

He paused and then said,
“Yes, for them it is as though

that past had never existed.”
* * *

The film, as De Sica ex-
plained, is clearly political
and anti-nazi.

“JT mentioned this to a
West German press confer-
ence. You should have seen
the journalists’ faces, full of
disgust.’”’ He shook his head,
Saying: “It’s bad ,bad.”

As he had only spent a
few days in East Berlin, De
Sica said he had only had
few impressions of the Ger-
man Democratic Republic.

Of Berlin he commented:
“It is an abnormal situation;
one senses the tension in the
air. In such an atmosphere
nothing ean be simple and
ne rnial.” :

‘Sboviously . . . De Sica is
p.ca ed to be back in Italy.
Axc it seems the West Ger-
max: authorities, having more
or iesS ignored his presence,
ere equally satisfied he has
left the Federal Republic.

They were only too anx-
icus to get rid of him, but in
é £°w months it will be less
eas. for them to be rid of

.the anti-nazi film of “Altona.”

—PHYLLIS ROSNER.

OPEN FORUM

The big lie

L. Agassiz, Vancouver,
writes: I have just had Leslie
Morris’ article on the “Big
Lie’ (March 23/62) called to
my attention—amongst some
other material on peace.

I agree with it entirely. It’s

‘a pity we can’t get rid of the _

old instincive response to
‘fact’? (where there’s smoke
there’s fire) when this ap-
plies to word pictures only.
I still find myself responding
this way quite often.

I believe that the Big Lie
has been found so effective
that Leslie Morris might like
to show how it is used con-
stantly in the form of accus-
ing the opponent of exactiy
that which one intends to do
oneself (or has done) to the

Soviets.
It thus becomes enormous-

ly damaging to public under-
standing.

Eternal Flame

Roy Reid, Saskatoon, Sask.,
writes: We visited the cem-
etery in Leningrad where
over 600,000 soldiers and
civilian men, women and
children lie buried—killed or
starved to death during the
siege of Leningrad by the
Nazis from 1941 to 1943. Most
of them starved during the
first awful months before the
Red Army was able to bring
in supplies over an ice road
across Lake Lagoda.

We saw the eternal flame
which was kindled during the
worst days of the siege now
coming out of reinforced
concrete in front of a large
granite monument erected
after the war, in memory of

the fallen and as a symbol of
their faith in victory.

The City Council having ~

decided early in the struggle
that they would die fighting
rather than surrender, this
decision was confirmed by the
people.

Standing before that eter-
nal flame we took our hats
off to our glorious allies of
the Second World War, to
salute the Soviet people, who,
by their mighty war effort,
saved us from fascism.

After going through this
experience I would say the
people of the ‘free enterprise
West”? should bring into ac-
tion the democratic princi-
ples of the UN Charter, so
that the UN would act to
have complete disarmament
enforced _by __ international
control.

Such behaviour on the part
of the masses of the West
could make possible the
bringing into life of the an-
cient dream that a world of
international brotherhood is
coming . . . Canadians could
help this new social system
to become a reality.

System on Trial

E. H. Tudor, Morningside,
Alta., has sent us a copy of
an open letter to Arthur
Helps, Town Meeting, Van-
couver, B.C. The letter says:
Your reply to our SEATO
friend this evening showed
the opposite of ‘‘tolerance,
justice and reason.”

The question put to our
SEATO friend by Dr. Rins-
tra re the sale of trucks, ete.
to People’s China as_ the
“enemy” is simply plain cold
war propaganda and a re-
flection upon the type of

Sept. 14, 1962—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 9

speaker saddled upon your
radio audience.

Our government recently
sold millions of dollars’
worth of grain to China and
by_so doing took our Western
farmers off the quota and the
recent prairie vote showed
that the electors did not re-’
gard People’s China as “the
enemy”.

Basically, Mr. Helps, Town
Meeting is your Town Meet-
ing and therefore a mere
sounding board for capitalist
interests.

You and I are diametrically
opposed in our way of life. I
am a son of the people and
will always stand foursquare
for their interests and free-
dom, while you, sir, by your
speeches and actions, stand
for the privileged class of the
world.

You hate socialism, while
I am a 100 percentsocialist.

It is your system which is
on trial in Canada, not mine.
And, sir, if Canada is the de-
mocracy you claim it is, then
why all the numerous prob-
lems that beset it on your
Town Meetings?

If your Town Meetings
were really in the interests
of “justice, tolerance and
reason” (which to you mean
exploitation, interest and
profit) I would not only send
you $5.00 per year, but all
I could afford.

But I refuse to give any-

‘thing to a policy that only

enhances the image of the
privileged class of capitalism.

Your savage and unreason-
able attitude in dealing with
an intelligent question shows
you up to the public in your
true perspective.