Harlem

This propaganda film was partly inspired by the story of the first Italian heavyweight champion Primo Carnera who after winning the title with Al Capones help in 1933 was beaten the following year by the Jewish Max Bear and then again by the Brown Bomber Detroit Joe Lewis in June 1935 on the eve of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia This match provoked numerous racial skirmishes on the streets of Harlem between the Black community and proFascist ItalianAmericans The film overturns historical facts and here obviously it is the white boxer who wins in order to demonstrate the superiority of the Aryan Italians over the sinister Jewish entrepreneurs and the savage AfroAmerican fans in Yankee Stadium In the film these were played by South African prisonersofwar interred in a work camp which the German and Italian propaganda ministries had set up near Cinecittà for cinematic purposes