Italian Enlightenment

Of the 2,000 feature-length films made in the world every year, Hollywood's annual 600 account for 73% of the playing time on the world's screens. U. S. domination of the world's cinema market gravely disturbs countries like Italy, where Mussolini has for years struggled to develop an industry which requires few raw materials besides talent and imagination. All Mussolini's efforts have been a flop. Italy has 2,700 theatres, which show 350 films a year. Through 1938, about 200 high-grade films were imported from the U. S. and about 50 low-grade films were made at home.

Last January i, Italy tried a new scheme to stimulate domestic production, already largely financed by taxes on U. S. films. Thought up by Minister of Popular Enlightenment Dino Alfieri, the scheme was to tax U. S. films even further by having them distributed in Italy not by their producers' agents but by a Government-financed monopoly. Last week it became apparent that the new scheme was another flop. Having tried it for a month, U. S. producers found the terms of the monopoly prohibitive, announced through Tsar Will Hays that they had entirely ceased distributing their pictures in Italy.

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