The era of censorship (1930–1967)

Abstract

The thirty-seven-year era of censorship is one of the strangest in the history of American film, because a handful of articulate Catholics were able to muzzle an entire industry, using a powerful pressure group, the Legion of Decency, to advance their views. Much has been written about the Catholic Church’s contribution to the formation and policing of the Production Code Administration in 1930 (PCA). The Catholics were not alone in demanding censorship of motion pictures; the Protestant Federal Council of Churches was actively demanding federal legislation during the 1920s. Many Protestant churches supported the aims of the (Catholic) Legion of Decency in the 1930s, and welcomed the tough approach to code enforcement adopted by Catholic Joseph Breen when he became the director of the PCA. However, during the 1940s, Protestant attitudes to Hollywood became increasingly friendly; and Hollywood films received favorable reviews in the pages of denominational newspapers like the Christian Herald and Christian Advocate. In the postwar years the Protestant churches were much more in tune with postwar social attitudes, and began to disagree with the Legion of Decency over a wide range of issues. In addition the popularity of imported Italian movies not required to submit to PCA classifications led to dissension within Catholic ranks. Finally censorship battles led the Supreme Court to award motion pictures protection under the First Amendment in 1952. Unlike the Catholic Church and the Legion of Decency, the Protestant churches enjoyed a friendly relationship with Hollywood studio heads like Jack Warner of Warner Brothers, and Spyros Skouras of Twentieth Century Fox. In postwar years Protestants also took the lead in the production of 16mm nontheatrical films made specifically for the church market, as movie nights became an important part of church activities. The subjects covered ranged widely from worship to teen dating. All these factors led to the eventual demise of both the Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency by the mid-1960s.