A LESSON WELL LEARNT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 65, 17 March 1934, Page 5 (Supplement)

A LESSON WELL LEARNT.

SEANDER ON THE FILMS. COMMENT ON THE RASPUTIN CASE. None of the causes celebre* for which 1934 promises to become famous is likely to be more fantastic than the Youssoupoff case, says "The Times" in a cabled leading article on the case in which Princess Irina Youssoupoff, formerly of the Russian Imperial Court, sued the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Film Company in connection with the production and screening of the film "Rasputin and the Empress," claiming that by it she was identified with the Princess Natasha,

daughter to the Empress and mistress of the "Holy Monk." "Tho Times" said the case proves the vigilance with which English law protects private character against the terrible organs of defamation which modern processes of entertainment iiave brought into being. Tho damages are large, but largo they ought to be. The harm which a widely circulated film may do is on the same great scale as its profits. On that scale, tho proprietors must pay an indemnity. The lesson for the film industry is that it is exceedingly dangerous to mix imaginary and real characters when dealing with events within living memory. The maker of historic fiction must not gamble with other people's'repu tat ions. Old Regime's Day. The "Daily Mail" compares the scene in tho Court after the departure of Sir Horace Avory and counsel to a reception

at Moika Palace. Russians of the old regime surrounded Irina, the men kissing her hand and the women curtseying. Women at the hearing outnumbered men bv five to one. In a leading article the "Daily Mail says the jury has rendered a great public service and vindicated the supremacy of the English jury system. The verdict will be popular and does not exceed by a farthing what circumstances demanded. The libel, as Sir Horace Avory declared, was gross, insulting and injurious, and cast an abominable slur 011 the Princess honour. The result will be a salutary warning to film producers not to introduce living personages into films without proper guarantees and strict delimitation of fact and fiction. By obtaining the consent of living persons before a film was made, approval would be sccured before it was released.