Hapsburgs; Hunting Dogs; French Peasants

The grinning skull which opens this March of Time issue sounds a warning note for the long-term prospects of Otto of Habsburg. Although the Austrian government seems ready to welcome the pretender to the Habsburg throne back from exile it is the dictators of Europe - Hitler and Mussolini - who hold the real power. In France it is the the country’s peasants who have decided the result of the elections in which Front National leader Léon Blum becomes France’s first socialist Prime Minister.

Apart from a humorous look at dog trials in Pennsylvania, the first issue from the second year of the British edition of March of Time focuses on the turbulent political situation in Europe. The first film gives a potted history of Otto, the current heir to the Hapsburg throne, currently in exile in Belgium, but makes it clear that the real power lies in the hands of the countries surrounding Austria - particularly Germany. The French story puts its faith in the stolidity of the French peasant to ensure that neither Communism nor Fascism prevail in a country which had seen the rise of the extreme right wing Croix-de-Feu group, as well as sit-ins, strikes and violent clashes between workers and the police.