Screenland Plus TV-Land (Nov 1953 - May 1955)

complete nudity or to display extremely revealing clothes on cheap and unattractive women." Martine's viewpoint was supported by other French stars whom I queried on the censorship subject. Colette Marchand, whom you saw in "Moulin Rouge" and who is the possessor of an exquisite pair of gams, had this to say: "Would you dream of covering up a beautifullymolded statue? It would be ridiculous. In the same way, I think it is a mistake to hide the beauty of an attractively-formed torso. And besides, I think some of the lingerie displays I saw in shop windows on Broadway were more immoral than anything you could see in the nude shows at Pigalle." Danielle Darrieux, who had made a number of films on both sides of the Atlantic, also had some very definite ideas to offer. "Americans are much too prudish and puritanical," said Danielle. "They seem to be afraid of honest emotion. This, in my estimation, is not healthy. I found that Americans spend too much time discussing sex. In France, we do not talk about sex. In fact, we never use the word in the same way you do. The one word amour covers everything." On the question of nudity, Danielle— who just recently starred in two delightfully-wicked spoofs on the subject of love, "La Ronde" and Christian Jacque's "Adorable Creatures" — made this statement. "I do not see any point to nudity for the sake of sensationalism. I think it is likely that American censorship of French films may have some justification on this point. I personally do not care for public display of the human body, and do not believe it is necessary except on the rarest possible occasions." Danielle's reaction was similar to Giselle Pascal's. Mademoiselle Pascal, the attractive star of the soon-to-be-released adventure film, "Horizons Without End," entered the debate with this comment: "Films, as an art for the masses, need some kind of censorship. A man or woman who buys a book generally has a good idea of what is being paid for. But movies are different. Much of your audience is totally unaware of the content of the product they are buying. I think it important for heads of the French film industry to guard carefully against excesses of nudity and immorality, and excesses, in my opinion, there have been." And so the battle of what is good or bad, what desirable or evil, what moral or immoral, and what constitutes a danger to the welfare of the young goes on. In Switzerland, youngsters under eighteen cannot even attend the movies. In Spain, kissing scenes are cut from films. For unknown reasons, "Streetcar Named Desire" has not been released for showing in Italy. "David And Bathsheba" has not been approved for Spanish audiences. Britain, on the basis of unnecessary brutality, cut scenes from "The Glass Wall," "Man In The Dark," "The Juggler" and "Quo Vadis." And Western Germany sliced the final scene from "Because You're Mine" because of German sensitivity towards any anti-militarism. The French censors frown on all scenes of extreme brutality and wanton killing. "Caprice Of Caroline Cherie," the Martine Carol starrer discussed in this examination of the censorship issue, has already been held up six months by United States censors who are trying to decide just how, and if, it can be shown to American audiences. On the other hand, "The Moon Is Blue," which has been attacked by many of our civic and religious groups as lewd and tasteless, will certainly have no trouble whatsoever being shown throughout France and most of Europe. Perhaps Christian-Jacque, in his suggestion to standardize censorship on a universal basis, has a good, if supremely idealistic point that deserves everyone's careful consideration. But if and when such a standardization of censorship is made, on whose moral code would it be based? Ours? France's? Switzerland's? Spain's? And lest we forget, many of the things that all European and American audiences could accept would only horrify Asiatic and African film-goers — and vice-versa. Though the entire question is an extremely difficult one, we all can have plenty of pleasure out of debates on what should be censored and who should do the censoring. And who would dare say that it is all work and no fun to decide whether one's fellow citizens should be allowed to see the splendidly-curved Martine Carol bathing in the nude? Perhaps Martine is right. What could possibly be cleaner? end 55 Martine and co-star, Raf Vallone, rehearse scene for controversial "Lysistrata." Director Christian-Jacque (with hands up) will soon wed Martine.