Motion Picture Herald (Oct-Dec 1956)

Revision of Production Code Is Approved by Board of MPAA A revised Production Code embodying thoroughgoing changes evolved during eleven months of work by a special committee on self regulation of the Motion Picture Association of America was approved and adopted by the MPAA board of directors in New York Tuesday. The effect of the changes is to clarify the basic Code provisions and to put its contents into more logical sequence, thereby providing a document for the guidance of Hollywood that is clearer and more concise than the old. Some of the subjects formerly prohibited as entertainment screen material but now permissive under well defined specifications are the following: mercy killings; drug addiction and traffic in habit-forming drugs; kidnapping of children; abortion; nudity in infants; miscegenation, and surgical operations, including the showing of childbirth. In addition, the changes tighten up many former Code provisions by enlarging on their injunctions and by substituting more explicit language than was used previously. In this category is an addition to The reasons underlying the Code, an exposition of the moral principles upon which it is based, have been a part of the document since its beginning. In the revision approved by the MPAA board these reasons remain with minor changes of wording. They are printed in full annually with the text of the Code in International Motion Picture Almanac, the 1957 edition of which will be published this month. the section on National Feelings enjoining producers from employing anything in their pictures which tends to incite bigotry or hatred among peoples of differing races, religions or national origins.” Provisions which have been tightened up by new or more specific wordage include those on depictions of murder, brutality, sexual promiscuity, adultery and illicit sex, “open-mouth kissing,” seduction and rape, prostitution and white slavery, vulgarity, blasphemy and profanity, depiction of religious personages even if poseurs. The board took no action at its meeting Tuesday on proposed changes in the administration of the Code which would have altered appeals procedure and would have added representatives of exhibition and independent production to the present appeals body consisting of members of the board of MPAA. Eric Johnston, Association president, told a press conference at which the Code changes were announced, that the administrative changes will continue “under advisement.” He said this is but one of several revisions of the Code since its adoption in 1930 and that, even though it is the “most sweeping” of them, the result is still “not the ultimate Code.” “It has been brought up to date,” Mr. Johnston said, “as to language and arrangement. But it remains a living document and will be subject to changes in the future.” He added, however, that “it is everything the MPAA had in mind at this time, except for administrative changes.” He said that all industry elements participated in the changes, both in Hollywood and New York. The committee which drafted the revised Code consisted of Barney Balaban, chairman; Daniel T. O’Shea, A. Schneider and Johnston. Its subcommittee members were Robert J. Rubin, Paul Quinn, Ray Bell, Kenneth Clark and Sidney Schreiber. GENERAL PRINCIPLES: 1. No picture shall be produced which will lower the moral standards of those who see it. Hence the sympathy of the audience shall never be thrown to the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil or sin. 2. Correct standards of life, subject only to the requirements of drama and entertainment, shall be presented. 3. Law — divine, natural or human — shall not be ridiculed, nor shall sympathy be created for its violation. PARTICULAR APPLICATIONS: I. CRIME: 1. Crime shall never be presented in such a way as to throw sympathy with the crime as against law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire for imitation. The following is the text of a statement issued by Mr. Johnston when he announced the revisions at his Tuesday press conference: “Some time ago a committee of the board was appointed to make a study of the Code and to recommend any revisions that it considered to be desirable in light of experience and of present-day conditions. “The Production Code consists of two main elements: (1) the underlying moral principles, and (2) the provisions that deal with policy matters. “As the Code’s basic principles are unchanging, the revisions relate to policy matters only. “Policy provisions have been revised from time to time, but this is the first time since the Code was adopted in 1930 that a comprehensive survey has been undertaken by the board. “The revisions of the Code follow these main lines: ( Continued on page 15, col. 2) 2. Methods of crime shall not be explicitly presented or detailed in a manner calculated to glamorize crime or inspire imitation. 3. Action showing the taking of human life is to be held to the minimum. Its frequent presentation tends to lessen regard for the sacredness of life. 4. Suicide, as a solution of problems occurring in the development of screen drama, is to be discouraged unless absolutely necessary for the development of the plot, and shall never be justified, or glorified, or used specifically to defeat the ends of justice. 5. Excessive flaunting of weapons by criminals shall not be permitted. 6. There shall be no scenes of law-enforcing officers dying at the hands of crim (Continued on following page) TEXT OF REVISED CODE FOREWORD: Motion picture producers recognize the high trust and confidence which have been placed in them by the people of the world and which have made motion pictures a universal form of entertainment. They recognize their responsibility to the public because of this trust and because entertainment and art are important influences in the life of a nation. Hence, though regarding motion pictures primarily as entertainment without any explicit purpose of teaching or propaganda, they know that the motion picture within its own field of entertainment may be directly responsible for spiritual or moral progress, for higher types of social life, and for much correct thinking. On their part, they ask from the public and from public leaders a sympathetic understanding of the problems inherent in motion picture production and a spirit of cooperation that will allow the opportunity necessary to bring the motion picture to a still higher level of wholesome entertainment for all concerned. MOTION PICTURE HERALD, DECEMBER 15, 1956 13