London, Jan. 6.
British audiences in the six largest West End motion picture theatres and Several news reel, theatres to-day watched the first showing of pictures of the fatal Japanese bombing of the American gunboat Panay. Almost dead silence reigned in all theatres as the scenes of the bombing were flashed onto the screen. A slight titter was heard when the commentafor at the end of the film said the Japanese had "apologized" for the incident, In some audiences there was faint applause when the commentator said the wounded Americans from the gunboat had refused an invitation to board Japanese ships, A slight gasp also was let out by most audiences when they saw the survivors going ashore under fire from Japanese guns.
The majority of West End audienees proved to be sophisticated crowds, failing to display much emotion and showing only a little more feeling than at an ordinary newsreel.—United Press,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.