To prohibit and to prevent the trade practices known as "compulsory block-booking" and "blind selling" of motion-picture films in interstate and foreign commerce .. (1939)

12 TRADE PRACTICES IN MOTION-PICTURE INDUSTRY man coiild safely know is not being infringed by the prices he quoted at the time he was trading with an exhibitor for a deal as to nimiber and prices of motion pictures to be mutually agreed upon between them. In the third clause of section 3 the authors of the bill offer as a proposed separate Federal crime, a distinct substantive offense in itself. The basis for criminahty which they have conceived is — to lease or ofiFer to lease films * * * in any other manner or by any other means the effect of which would be to defeat the purpose of this Act. Tliis cannot be a valid standard of conduct for exacting obedience from a person in advance. This proA-ision would virtually give unfettered discretion to a prosecutor to indict and to a jiu-y to con\"ict any person on the ground that he did sometliing which had the eflfect of defeating the purpose of the act. No matter how carefully and honestly a salesman conducted negotiations he could never be certain that he would not be accused of having "defeated the purpose of the act'' and that he would not be sent to jail for the time prescribed in the bill. The purposes of the act, be it remembered, are said to prohibit and to prevent the trade practice or method of distribution whereby an exhibitor is required to lease all or a specified number of an offered group of films in order to obtain any individual desired film or films in the group and extends also to the prevention of so-called "blind selling"' dealt with in section 4. Even if it is the abohtion of compulsory block booking alone which is the purpose indicated, what is "block booking" and when is block booking compulsory? These are patently matters of degree dependent largely on the mind of the exhibitor party to the negotiations. If the first two clauses of section 3 (1) enjoining conduct attempted to be defined are far from clear and far from definite, how much less clear and definite is this clause? This clause sets up no standard, definite or even approximate, to which conduct must conform on pain of criminal punishment. It is without direct precedent — although it may be compared \vith. clauses in contracts pursuant to the mandate of the German Reich Film Chamber wliich requires contracts to provide that such contracts "shall be interpreted in the sense of national sociaUsm." Sec. 4. It shall be unlawful for any distributor of motion-picture films in commerce to lease or offer to lease for public exhibition any motion-picture film over two thousand feet in length unless such distributor shall furnish the exhibitor at or before the time of m.aking such lease or offer to lease a complete and true synopsis of the contents of such film. Such synopsis shall be made a part of the lease and shall include (a) an outline of the story, incidents, and scenes depicted or to be depicted, and (b) a statement describing the manner of treatment of dialogs concerning any scenes depicting vice, crime, or suggestive of sexual passion. Section 4 of the bill is addressed to so-called blind seUiag. It provides that a distributor may not offer to contract or contract to furnish for public exhibition any motion-picture film without at the same time furnishing to the exhibitor party to the negotiations or contract a complete and true synopsis of the contents of the film, and that "such sjnopsis shall be made a part of the lease" (or licensing agreement for the picture). In S. 153 (75th Cong., 3d sess.) section 4 was identical except that it also contained a provision that in case of a substantial difference