The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

you can't censor a look story of a college boy wrongly suspected of having a homosexual relationship with one of the masters. Mocked and persecuted for his lack of manliness, branded by rumour and gossip, the boy himself begins to believe that he may be abnormal. Entirely out of motives of sympathy, the master's wife proves, conclusively to him — in the only way possible — that he is normal. This story offends against the Code in two basic respects. It deals with homosexuality (the Code says that "sex perversion or any inference of it is forbidden") and it condones, by implication, the wife's adultery with the boy (the Code says: "Adultery must never be justified or presented attractively"). How did MGM get round these difficulties. First, all references, actual or implied, to homosexuality were taken out of the story. The boy in the film became a sensitive, non-athletic chap who was being persecuted for being "a cissy". To make a man of him the master's wife still made the same sacrifice as in the play. But a sequence was added showing her many years later still suffering for her transgression. As Deborah Kerr, who played the role, put it, "You cannot show a woman committing adultery and being happy about it." In the course of time the Hollywood Code is instrumental in conveying some strangely unreal ideas to the public: that no criminal ever gets away: that no woman ever enjoys "illicit sex" without regretting it afterwards; that strong, tough men never use strong language; that passion is something only vicious people indulge in. But in its efforts to prevent the arousal of what they call "undesirable emotions" the Breen Office has been notably unsuccessful. Hollywood has been able to recruit plenty of young women who manage to do this without apparently offending against any of the written regulations. Stimulating these emotions is their 147