ITALY: Mussolini Shushed

Because, in the loneliness of Power, Il Duce admits no other mortal to close friendship he spends most of his evenings alone, finds distraction, when not working, in his violin and in censoring cinemas. Came news last week that the Dictator had shushed the U. S. feature length film Mussolini Speaks, banned it from ever being shown in Italy. Patched together from newsreel shots, it parades for over an hour the electrifying facial mannerisms of Orator Mussolini (see cut) (TIME, March 20). The Dictator’s crisp reason for shushing Mussolini Speaks: “Not timely enough”— all of the patched-together shots being perforce somewhat old. When Patcher-Together Jack Cohn sought to see II Duce in Rome, expecting praise, he was politely accorded the briefest audience, was not asked even to sit down.