Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies

by Gregory D. Black

• ISBN13: 9780521565929
• ISBN10: 0521565928
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-01-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

In response to a series of sex scandals that rocked the movie industry in the early 1920s, the Production Code Administration and the Catholic Legion of Decency implemented a code stipulating that movies stress proper behavior, respect for government, and "Christian values." Based on an extensive survey of original studio records, censorship files, and the Catholic Legion of Decency archives (whose contents are published here for the first time), Hollywood Censored examines how hundreds of films were expurgated to promote a conservative political agenda during the 1930s. By taking an innovative view of how movies were made, and the conditions that made them, Hollywood Censored brings together such chapters as "Movies and Modern Literature," "Beer, Blood and Politics," and "Film Politics and Industry Policy" to form a rare look at America's most famous industry.

Author Biography

Gregory Black is Associate Professor Communication Studies at the University of Missouri, Kansas City

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(2)
Restricting Entertainment: The Movies Censored	3	(18)
The Hays Office and a Moral Code for the Movies	21	(29)
Sex, Sex, and More Sex	50	(34)
Movies and Modern Literature	84	(23)
Beer, Blood, and Politics	107	(42)
Legions March on Hollywood	149	(49)
Sex with a Dash of Moral Compensation	198	(46)
Film Politics and Industry Policy	244	(48)
Conclusion	292	(19)
Appendixes
A Working Draft of the Lord-Quigley Code Proposal	302	(7)
B Films Condemned by the Legion of Decency	309	(2)
Selected Bibliography	311	(10)
Filmography	321	(6)
Index	327