Juvenile delinquency (1955)

90 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY Warning has been given by the British Board of Film Censors to the Hollywood producers that no film scenes involving excessive brutality, criminal violence, or extreme and salacious sex situations will be accepted for public exhibition in Great Britain. It is worth noting that the British Board of Film Censors operates a system of film classifications. Only films classified "U" may be seen by all. Those considered of purely adult, emotional appeal are certified "A" and may be seen by children only if and when accompanied by a responsible adult. All films of a horrific nature, or which deal in brutality, sadism, cruelty or questionable situations involving sex, are certified "X" and may not, in any circumstance, be attended by persons under the age of 18. That the British Board of Film Censors has refused several of these recent crime and sex pictures any kind of certification at all indicates the grave view they take of their likely effect upon the national culture and upon immediate prcjblems of maintaining public n)orals and good law and order. It is the official British view that the films mentioned as having been banned are not acceptable even for adults. Yet here they have been or are being shown, Avithout let or hindrance, to young and old alike. Most of the continental European films which reflect a heavy emphasis on social unrest or moral turpitude, where these are accepted at all, are granted only the "X" certificate in Great Britain; hence youths under IS do not see them. This situation can be compared again with that existing in the United States. The most gravely condemnable motion pictures—morally and sometimes polit- ically subversive—are imported into this country from Europe, Mexico, and other countries, to be shown to all and sundry: teen-agers, young children, and adults. That such films fretjuently are released only in so-called specialty theaters not generally patronized by youngsters oft'ers the one faint hope that their poisons may not prove as virulent as if the.v were given blanket release, as are most Hollywood films, in the chain and neighborhood theaters. We are led, however, at this point to observe the influence of these so-called realistic, adi;lt dramas, imported from abroad, upon the minds of some Holly- wood impresarios. There is evidence that a class of filmgoer which for some inexplicable reason is identified with the intelligentsia attends specialty theaters by choice and habit. Many of these persons rarely go to regular run theaters. It is to woo their patronage, or so it is argued, that many in Hollywood strive to invest their own screenplays with the type of adult appeal they acclaim in these foreign sex dramas. (Instance, One Summer of Happiness, a young couple swimming nude, then lying together with natural results; The Bed a group of sex episodes totally ignoring accepted and traditional American standards; LaRonde a roundabout of sex exchanges among a group of lustful characters— and many others.) That some artistic quality is evident in some of these films may be admitted without any acceptance of the the(n-y that they may, with public prudence, be made available to the young people of America. Or that, with any sense of re- sponsibility to the mass American movie public, Hollywood producers may accept the mores common to the European screen drama, in pressing this sin and crime trend to ultimate developments. CONCLUSIONS That a dangerous trend in crime and sex treatments has recently taken shape. That it can and should be checked by intelligent and respectful application of the existing Motion Picture Production Code. That the television industry should adopt and practice an identical code of ethics and morals, and set up an administration with teeth in it, to accomplish uniform and constant controls. Th.'if the only alternative to these steps is censorship b.v State or civic bodies (within such limits as are set by law). That if and when such limits should px'ove inadequate, there will arise a public clamor for remedial legislation. That while it is happily true that many motion pictures and TV programs originating in Hollywood exercise benefic effect uiion millions, it is fallacious to reason that the good they do balances the harm which results from a smaller number of crime and sex films.