Juvenile delinquency (1955)

JUVENILE DELINQUENCY 91 By making a woman house-proiul or beauty conscious, you do not minimize anv'traits slie may have toward sliop-lifting. Feeding junior from a gleaming ice-box or giving liini a lift m a late-model Cad will not stop him from holding up the gas statiim on the corner. Crime does not have to i>ay as long as it holds thrills. DOCUMENTATION While interpretation of production code rules involves matters of opinion, there seems little room to doubt that the following tilnis were in violation of code rules, either as to letter or spirit, and in many instances, l)oth (Mr. Mooring's accusa- tions) : Black Tucsdaii. —Introduced brutal killings, a new and iinique trick for con- cealing a gun. a perfect pattern for crime (escape from the just process of law), and excessive brutality. All these are expressly forbidden by the production code. Bi(/ Hon fie, C'NA.—i)ealt with the kidnaping of a child (which became a main theme despite efforts to cover the fact by introducing prison break as a secondary theme). It also introduced excessive brutality and gave details of the crime of kidnaping in violation of the production code. CcU 2Jf5o, Death Jioiv. —Dealt with the life of a notorious criminal of current times and identified him in the screen titles, thus, while side-stepping the rule against use of the criminal's name in the film, it violated the express purpose of the rule. It also contained intimate reference to sexual intercourse detailed partl.v by pictorial means then confirmed by sound effects. Soil of ^iiihad. —p]xploits seminudity which the production code forbids, com- ing under the heading of immoral actions. It also presents dances identifiable with sexual actions and. after the fashion of burlesque, is intended to excite the emotional reaction of an audience through exposure and movement: all code violations. Kis.s Me Deadly. —^'iciously combines criminal brutality and sex salaciousness in violation of the production code. Fii^e Against the House. —Presents a pattern of crime conceived by four young college men (one of them populai- film-TV hero. Guy Madison) and executed for fun by methods most calculated to inspire others with a desire for imitation, contrary to the production code. It also highly suggests reference to sex. Violent Saturday. —Powerful dramatically and technically of high caliber, explicitly details the methods of a bank robbery crime in violation of production code. Some scenes also appear to break the rule against excessive brutality. Sot As a Stranger. —Links animal mating by direct symbolism with an illicit sex adventure between a man and woman, thus imputing instinctive animalistic nature to humankind and inferring that low forms of sex relationship are the accepted thing (by implying they are not subject to rea.son but only to animal instinct). Many other examples are available. It is noticeable also that of late, drive-in theaters, once regarded as almost sacrosanct to family entertainment, have shown with increasing frequency the worst examples in crime and sex films. Reliable information suggests that this trend is not accidental, but coincides in some instances with conditions that invite immediate police action. At certain drive-ins cars occupied by young couples are directed to specific parts of the theater where it is understood their behavior will be subject to no interference by theater attendants. DOCUMENTATION B Son of Si]ihad. —Appears to present nothing of appeal to mature-minded adults, is described in a Hollywood trade press critique as "an affront to the public in- telligence." Its burlesque-type parade of seminude females may very well excite the passion of young men at impressionable stages of sex curiosity. Moreover the film appears to be designed.on exhibiti(mist lines for that specific purpose. The Seven Year Iteh. —Deals with adultery and illicit sex as subject for fun. The technique employed, rather common of late, is to presume that the illicit adventures existed only in the imagination of the characters and did not in fact occur. Tins method ijermits of the characters talking about, and going through the forms of sexual promiscuity without any restraints. If the film is aimed at adults, the fact is that adolescents will be free to attend and many may be im- pressed that sexual promiscuity is an easy, acceptable, laughing matter; not violation of the virtues.