Motion Picture Commission : hearings before the Committee on Education, House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress, second session, on bills to establish a Federal Motion Picture Commission (1978)

56 MOTION PICTURE COMMISSION. .iurisdictioii, nltbougb an appeal to the Federal jurisdiction will be entertained in certain cases. I stayed for some days in Innsbruck and studied the situation there, and I know that, for instance, in the Tyrol the censors act independently of any other Province in the Austrian Empire. DENMARK. In Denmark all pictures must be su))mitted before thoy are i)ut on the market to a special comn)ission, which is separate and distinct from the police, and which consists of men in high standing. A member of the present connnission is a noted actor. The decisions of this commission are said to be most fair and liberal. .SWEDEN. I know nothing about Sweden. RUSSIA. In Russia no picture can be shown unless examined and approved by the imperial police. Russian censorship greatly resembles that of Germany, but there is no appeal from the decisions of the police. The fact that many Russian films imported to this -ountry can not be shown here until radical eliminations are made is sufficient connnentary on one of the aspects of Russian censorship. A picture made in Russia. "Should a Woman Tell?" is now being shown on Broadway in New York City. It contains scenes of terrible and shocking lealism, and practically showing the crime of rape. The Russian censors passed this. It has been entirely eliminated by the importers. < AN ADA. Canada h.-is official cen.>^orshii). established in the early part of 1912. Each Province has its own censors appointed by the government. All films nuist be submitted to them before being allowed on the screen. At the time the first Canadian board of censors was formed promoters of the scheme of censorship came to New York and consulted with the so-called National Board of Censor- ship of New York, adopting many of their rules. The Chairman, Now, Dr. Chase, you represent the other side? Dr. Chase. We woukl like to hear from Dr. Carter, but I do not know which side he is on. However, I presume he is on the other side. The Chairma>\ He is a member of the National Board of Censor- ship of New York. STATEMENT OF REV. WILLIAM CARTER. D. D., NEW YORK CITY. Dr. Cahtek. Gentlemen, I appreciate Canon Chase's introduction in this way, because he does not know which side I am on. I want to say, first of all, that I do not come especially representhiof the national board of censorship, althougli T am a member of that body. I be- lieve that in comin<r before a connnittee like this it is much better for one to come representing: their own personal ideas that have been borne out of a deep experience than to come representinoj any body of interested men, thouj^h certainly there would be no one less commer- cially interested in the business of motion jnctures than the National Board of Censorship of New York. So I trust you will realize that in speaking, I am speaking merely as a minister of New York City who has been connected with the national board of censorship, and there- fore has evidence as to what that national body is doing. Mr. Howe, our chairman, is to try to come before your committee and present the matter in an official way; therefore I am speaking only personally as a pastor and also as a member of that national body.