Rewards in Venice

Held less to stimulate the almost non-existent Italian cinema industry than to attract tourists, the International Motion Picture Exposition in Venice always succeeds in producing mild surprises. Year ago first award went to Man of Aran (TIME, Sept. 24) but the most popular picture at the show was Extase, of which the climax was a close-up of the heroine's face while the rest of her anatomy was occupied in carnal misbehavior (TIME, Aug. 27, 1934, et seq.). Last week the Fascist Party's special prize for "the most artistic" foreign film of the year went to Columbia Pictures' No Greater Glory (TIME, April 23, 1934). Adapted from Ferenc Molnar's novel (The Paul Street Boys) about the warfare of two children's gangs for possession of a vacant lot which municipal authorities eventually take away from both, the cinema is a brilliant allegory suggesting that war is childish, futile and unpardonable.

Other Venice rewards for merit:

P: Mussolini Cup for the best foreign film of the year: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Anna Karenina (TIME, Sept. 9); because, ''The excellent interpretation of Greta Garbo, joined with the efficacious and human translation into images of Tolstoy's masterpiece, makes of this film a work of undoubted artistic value.''

P: The Gold Medal of the Italian Confederation of Professional Men & Artists, for the best animated cartoon: The Band Concert (Walt Disney).

P: The Government Motion Picture Bureau's Cup for the best direction: King Vidor, for The Wedding Night (TIME, March 25).

P: Cup for the best color film: RKO's Becky Sharp (TIME, May 27).

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