HERR CHAPLIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 31 December 1938, Page 6

HERR CHAPLIN

PROPOSED SATIRE [From Our Own Correspondent! LONDON, Ist December. Despite Mr Charlie Chaplin’s renewed determination to make a film, in which he plays the part of the German Chancellor, it must be touch arid go whether the proposed satire will ever reach the public screen, either in America or in Europe. /It might stand a slim chance in France, but one cannot imagine the British Censor affixing his certificate to a film which deals so bitingly with the head of a friendly State, however euphemistic that adfective may be. In London’s theatreworld. however, there is agitation once again for permission to introduce fam-

| ous political figures into drama, and as iit is a loophole has been found. Mr ! Bernard Shaw’s “Geneva” opened in town last week, and the characters include direct representations of “Sir Orpheus Midlander”—the late Sir Aus- , ten Chamberlain—Herr Battler and , Signor Bombardini. At tht private . Unity Theatre, too, the new pantomime has a painstaking chai'acterisation of Mr Chamberlain. Still, the ban t remains fairly effective, and one result is a dearth of political satires of [ the type that flourish in New York and i Paris.