Hollywood Censored: Morality Codes, Catholics, and the Movies (Cambridge Studies in the History of Mass Communication) - Hardcover

Black, Gregory D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521452996 ISBN 13: 9780521452991

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1994

Synopsis

After a series of sex scandals rocked the film industry in 1922, movie moguls hired Will Hays to clear the image of movies. Hays tried a variety of ways to regulate movies before adopting what became known as the production code. Written in 1930 by a St Louis priest, the code stipulated that movies stress proper behaviour, respect for government, and 'Christian values'. The Catholic Church reinforced these efforts by launching its Legion of Decency in 1934. Intended to force Hays and Hollywood to censor films, the Legion of Decency engineered the appointment of Joseph Breen as head of the Production Code Administration. For the next three decades, Breen, Hays, and the Catholic Legion of Decency virtually controlled the content of all Hollywood films.

About this title

Review

'Well-written account of film censorship.' Heythrop Journal

Book Description

Based on an extensive survey of original studio records, censorship files, and Catholic Legion of Decency archives here published for the first time, Hollywood Censored examines how hundreds of films were censored to promote a conservative political agenda during the 1930s, the golden era of studio production.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521452996
• ISBN 13: 9780521452991
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 348