So Simple

Russian culture cops have been playing "Truth, truth, who's got the Historical Truth?" with a new Soviet film called Admiral Nakhimov, about a Russian naval hero of the Crimean war. After a private showing, the Communist Party's Central Committee had growled: "The historical truth has been profoundly distorted," ordered veteran Moviemaker Vsevelod Illarionovich Pudovkin to remake his film.

Fortnight ago, Pudovkin's new, enlightened version appeared, stripped of frivolous love scenes and staggering with political significance. Purred Red Star's Reviewer V. Ilienko: "The directors of the film have corrected their mistake. . . . He [Admiral Nakhimov] anxiously observes the events behind the scenes of European diplomacy, and knows where the real enemies of Russia are."

Reviewer Ilienko, however, had failed to discover where the real critics of Russia were. Snarled Major General Glaktionov in Pravda: "The review of Ilienko . . . distorts the historic truth. . . . One might conclude that the war was fought with Turkey alone, but as is known from history, the war against Russia was wanted by an Anglo-French coalition which Turkey entered. . . ."

Last week Moviemaker Pudovkin showed that he at last knew in whose fist the button of Truth reposed. Said he: "The directives of the Central Committee taught us a lot. ... It seems all these conclusions are so simple we should have known them before."

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