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380 ^> ^> ^ The Motion Picture Industry
simple procedure. Sequences could be deleted without seriously hampering the films, and titles could be rewritten at the distributors' local exchanges for approximately $5 each. The usual fee charged by state and city censorship boards ranged from $2 to $3 per reel ; a similar amount was charged for each print thereof shown locally. One writer estimated that the annual cost of the censorship process, both voluntary and legal, was about $3,500,000; 21 this amount was borne by the industry.
Censoring the talking picture, however, presented a much more complex problem.22 Dialogue, as well as the pictorial effects, was subjected to censorship. From a mechanical standpoint, the deletion of a few words often required the cutting of an entire sequence. When such an operation was necessary, three alternatives were open to the distributor: to present a possibly less effective and sometimes ridiculous product; to request a retake from the studio, though this course was not always possible because of the unavailability of the actors; or to abandon exhibition in the territory in which a picture had been censored. The cost of correcting dialogue film to coincide with the demands of the many different censorship boards was many times that of correcting the silent product.
Further to complicate the problem for producers, some of the forces interested in the regulation of motion pictures changed their plan of procedure; they adopted policies and methods to secure the production of better pictures instead of limiting their efforts to censorship, selection, or promotion of pictures already produced. The following excerpts are taken from Responsibility for Better Motion Pictures, by Mrs. Robbins Gilman.23
21 Edwin W. Hullinger, "Free Speech for Talkies?", North American Review, June, 1929.
22 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 1929 ruled that the censorship statute gave jurisdiction over both silent and sound pictures. A case of the Pathe Exchange, Incorporated, in the State of New York was still pending.
23 Mrs. Gilman is president of the Federal Motion Picture Council of America, Inc.