Film Fallout

Causes more diplomatic grief

Saudi Arabian displeasure over a British-American television production, Death of a Princess, continued to stir up diplomatic storms last week. The "dramatized documentary," which re-enacts the execution of a Saudi princess and her lover in 1977 for adultery, had already aroused a howl of Saudi protest three weeks ago when it was first shown over Britain's independent television network. But when the government-controlled British Broadcasting Corporation showed another documentary on Saudi Arabia that, like the Princess film, was highly uncomplimentary to Saudi royal life, Riyadh's wrath boiled over.

Last week the Saudis ordered British Ambassador James Craig to leave the country and announced that they would not appoint a new Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. British officials pointed out that the Saudi reprisals could have been worse, but they were clearly dismayed by the fact that Britain had been singled out for the harshest retribution.

In Holland, for example, Dutch television officials said that they had been pressured by their government not to show the film, but when it was broadcast on schedule, the Saudis took no action. The Swedes played it safe from the start. A private video company acquired rights to the film, then shelved it to protect Swedish business interests.

Meanwhile, the Public Broadcasting Service, whose Boston outlet co-produced the film, said last week that it would not change its plans to televise the two-hour program, over more than 100 stations, on May 12. State Department officials in Washington acknowledged that the Saudis had expressed their concern about the showing. They were obviously paying no heed to an old Hollywood adage: the louder the protest, the bigger the audience. -

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.