At the Movies

Last week while all Budapest blew on its fingers and shivered in the cold, Vassili Martinow went to the movies. He was old and poor, and could only afford the cheapest seat, but even in the cheapest seat the Terminus Theatre was warm.

The film told a tale of pre-War Russia. Spliced into it for realism was a bit of old newsreel showing Tsar Nicholas II. and his Tsaritsa. Fascinated, poor Vassili Martinow watched the Autocrat of all the Russias stride dimly across the screen and enter a base hospital, where he was greeted by the Commandant. As this official's face came into sharp focus, Vassili Martinow gave the thin, high-pitched scream of an old man, and fainted dead away.

When physicians revived him with strong drink, he gasped: "That face! What memories--not to be endured. That was MY face! was the Commandant!"