21 DECEMBER 1934, Page 6

The ordinary news-reel film can be a factor of con-

siderable importance in international relations, quite apart from any suggestion of its use as propaganda. The pictures of the Hungarian refugees leaving Jugo- slavia made that very clear. A newspaper description, -however vivid, is not to be compared in its effect with the plain objective record of the film. The refugee pictures which London audiences looked at last week did far more than the most astute of Hungarian apologists could have to bring Jugoslavia into disrepute. It has often been contended that abuses in various remote corners of Europe or Asia would never take place if -some reliable neutral observer were on the spot to tell .the _tale. The cinema-camera looks like filling that role very adequately. * *