Motion picture censors' and reviewers' manual: a handbook (1934)

Page 6. case would the National Board pass a picture which glorified or excused the evil doer, or otherwise affected public opinion on a matter before the courts for adjudication. Consideration And Comparison Of Custom, Taste And Morals. One of the things which occasionally causes the National Board to be considered inconsistent is that there are many deeds depicted in motion pictures which are sometimes a matter of custom, sometimes of taste, and sometimes of morals* Often they are one thing in one section of the country and something different in another. When they appear, in the particular picture under discussion, to belong in the categories of custom or taste to such an extent that they are entirely divorced from morals, they are, of course, passed by the National Board. If they raise a question of morals, they have to be considered as .a matter of morals, not of custom or taste; and the action taken may be exactly opposite from the action of the Board, ori precisely the same deed in another picture where no question of morals entered. In all these instances, however, the Board tries to be consistent with its basic principles even though the action taken seems most inconsistent to the unthinking* Sacrilege And Allied subjects. Probably no normal person will question the decision of the National Board to repress sacrilege, even though it is perhaps as much a question of bad taste as bad morals. The feeling of reverence for certain things or forces accounted sacred by them is deepseated in all men Nov? anything that is so vital as this is a legitimate subject for motion pictures, but because of its very nature, it requires unusually careful treatment. Farce, burlesque, possibly melodrama, indeed all treatment of such subjects which is actuated by levity or any other than a serious purpose is altogether out of place in this connection, and is most consistently discouraged by the National Board. It is a much more difficult thing to determine just what is sacrilege. The general principle followed by the Board is that those things which shock the religious sensibilities of large and representative portions of the population should be forbidden, especially if the sacrilege be intentional. This does not mean the elimination of all the minor things which run counter to the religious prejudices of a portion of the peopie, but only those things which actually tend to weaken the religious spirit or profane sacred things or bring them into contempt or disrepute. It is not in itself sufficient ground for condemning an incident that it is not true; to condemn it, it must be shown that it will have an injurious effect upon the audience. Bar Rooms, Drinking, And Drunkenness. One of the perplexing problems in censorship is what to do with the interminable procession of bar-room scenes, drinking, and -drunkenness in motion pictures. They have a legitimate place in the motion picture drama, but the objection lies in the proportion they bear to all other scenes. Obviously this cannot be rationally remedied by enforcing censfirship restrictions against some of them, though it can be influenced no doubt by helpful suggestions given in a co-operative spirit. This is done from time to time by the Board. The proportion of these scenes must be regulated in the final analysis, however by whajt the public shows it likes or dislikes* Already the public »s dislike for being deluged with scenes