Year book of motion pictures (1925)

(10) Plays which exhibit prominently movie stars who have committed crimes or whose good names are in question, judged by generally accepted mora' standards. (c) RESPECT FOR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS (1) Scenes which ridicule or deprecate public officials, officers of the law, the United States Army, the United States acious or deceptive. Navy, or other governmental authority, or which tend to weaken the authority of the law. (2) Scenes which offend the religious belief of any person, creed or sect or ridicules ministers, priests, rabbis, _ or recognized leaders of any religious sect, and also which are disrespectful to objects or symbols used in connection with any religion. (3) National, racial and class hatred, should not be fostered. (d) SUBTITLES (1) Titles and subtitles should not be sal acious. The Obio Board of Censors does not publish a list of rejections made over any given period. Pennsylvania State Board of Censors, Standards, 1025 Cherry St., Phila. The members of the board are: Harry Knapp, W. Starr Richardson and Mrs. Niver. Pittsburgh office: Vanderbilt Bldg., 4th Ave., in charge of Florence and Alice Renshaw. The board will condemn pictures, and parts of pictures, dealing with "white slavery." The procuration and prostitution in all forms of girls, and their confinement for immoral purposes, may not be shown upon the screen, and will be disapproved. Views of prostitutes and houses of illfame will be disapproved. Pictures and parts of pictures which deal with the seduction of women, particularly the betrayal of young girls, and assaults upon women, with immoral intent, will be disapproved. Prenatal and childbed scenes and subtitles describing them may be disapproved. Pictures and parts of pictures dealing with the drug habit, e. g., the use of opium, morphine, cocaine, etc., will be disapproved. Scenes showing the modus operandi of criminals, which are suggestive and incite to evil action, such as murder, poisoning, house-breaking, safe-robbery, poc$;et-picking, the lighting and throwing of bombs, the use of ether, chloroform, etc., will be disapproved. The glorification of a crook is discountenanced. Gruesome and unduly distressing scenes will be disapproved. These include shooting, stabbing, profuse bleeding, prolonged views of men dying, and of corpses, lashing and whipping, and other torture scenes, hangings, lynchings, electrocutions, surgical operations and views of persons in delirium or insane. Studio and other scenes, in which the human form is shown in the nude, or the body is unduly exposed may be disapproved. Pictures and parts of pictures dealing with abortion and malpractice will be disapproved. These will include themes and incidents having to do with eugenics, "birth control," "race suicide" and similar subjects. Stories or scenes holding up to ridicule and reproach races, classes or other social groups, as well as the irreverent and sacrilegious treatment of religious bodies or other things held to be sacred, will be disapproved. The materialization of the figure of Christ may be disapproved. Pictures which deal with counterfeiting will be disapproved. (Federal Law.) Scenes showing men and women living together without marriage, and in adultery, will be disapproved. Discussion of the question of the consummation of marriage, in pictures, may be disapproved. The brutal treatment of children and of animals may lead to the disapproval of the theme, or of incidents in film stories. Cruelty to animals is highly objectionable. The use of profane and objectionable language in subtitles will be disapproved. Objectionable titles, as well as subtitles of pictures, will be disapproved. Views of incendiarism, burning, wrecking and the destruction of property, which may put like action into the minds of those of evil instincts, or may degrade the morals of the young, will be dispproved. Gross and offensive drunkenness, especially ii women have a part in the scenes, may be disapproved. Pictures which deal at length with gun play, and the use of knives, and are set in the underworld, will be disapproved. When the whole theme is crime, unrelieved by other scenes, the film will be disapproved. Prolonged fighting scenes will be shortened and brutal fights will be wholly disapproved. Vulgarities of a gross kind, such as often appear in slapstick and other screen comedies, will be disapproved. Comedy which burlesques morgues, funerals, hospitals, insane asylums, the lying-in of women and houses of ill-fame will be disapproved. Sensual kissing and love-making scenes, men and women in bed together and indelicate sexual situations, whether in comedies or pictures of other classes, will be disapproved. Bathing scenes which pass the limits of propriety, lewd and immodest dancing, the needless exhibition of women in their night dresses or underclothing, will be dissapproved. Views of women smoking will not he disapproved as such, but when women are snown in suggestive positions, or their manner of smoking is suggestive or degrading, such scenes will be disapproved. That the theme or story of a picture is adapted from a publication, whether c.assic?l or not, or that portions of a picture follow painings or other illustrations, is not a sufficient reason for the approval of a picttre or portions of A picture. Themes or incidents in uicture stories, which are designed to inflame the mind to improper adventures, or to ratiM'i«1i false standards of conduct, coming undc. th~ foregoing classes, or of other kinds, will be disapproved. Banners, posters or other advertising matter concerning motion pictures must follow the rules laid down for the pictures themselves. The Pennsylvania State Board of Censors of Moving Pictures will not approve: 1. What is immoral, indecent, obscene, salacious, objectionably vulgar or contains improper suggestion or incentive; what is unduly gruesome, morbid, shocking, sordid or debased; what is decadent or unwholesome; cruelty to animals, abnormal brutality. 2. What reflects upon national fame, patriotism, self respect, or adversely affects international relations; attacks or ridicules public institutions or organizations, or constituted authority in law enforcement or performance of duty; what may produce riots, mob violence, defiance of proper exercise of authority or suggest action tending to same. 3. What reflects upon, is prejudicial to, or ridicules particular races, creeds, religious beliefs, priests or ministers thereof ; irreverent use of religious symbols, the name of the Deity, or Jesus; blasphemy, profanity, excepting when the latter may be essential to the scene or characterization. 4. Glorification of crime, criminals or criminal acts, and all that makes crime, criminals or criminal acts alluring, heroic or sympathetic; depictions informative as to commission of crime or exasion of detection; what through the power of suggestion would induce commission of crime or improper acts, or set up false standards of conduct or living. 5. Views showing the use of habit forming drugs or narcotics ; information as to the sale and distribution of same. 351