Catholic Legion of Decency (1936-1978)

[Mister Tee]

Does this mean A Cold Wind in August was somehow deemed not-American? (I've never been able to track that film down. Would love to see it.)

It's fairly low quality, but A Cold Wind in August is available on YouTube

Thanks for the tip.

[gunnar]

Does this mean A Cold Wind in August was somehow deemed not-American? (I've never been able to track that film down. Would love to see it.)

It's fairly low quality, but A Cold Wind in August is available on YouTube

[Big Magilla]

The Wikipedia article seems to have confused the Jean Simmons version of The Blue Lagoon with the Brooke Shields version. The earlier version is listed thusly:

Blue Lagoon (Universal-International) A-II

[Big Magilla]

A few more:

Germany, Year Zero (German) (Superfilm Dist. Corp.) C
Objection: This film presents offensively subject matter unfit for general motion picture audiences.
It contains suggestive sequences; suicide in plot solution.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (20th Century-Fox) B
Objection: Suggestive costuming, dialogue, and situations.

Gone With the Wind (Selznick International-MGM) B
Objection: The low moral character, principles and behavior of the main figures as depicted in the film;
suggestive implications; the attractive portrayal of the immoral character of a supporting role in the story.

Boy On a Dolphin (Fox) B
Objection: Suggestive costuming.

Carnival Story (RKO) B
Objection: This film, while not deemed as wholly ''Condemnable," contains substantially material that seriously offends Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency.

"Despite earnest efforts of this office to effect an elimination or a lessening of the moral offensiveness, the producer refused co-operation and has retained in the picture various scenes of gross suggestiveness in situations, costume and dialogue."

Case of Dr. Laurent (Fr.) (Trans-Lux) S.C.
Observation: This film presents the case for the psychoprophylactic method of childbirth, which is more popularly known as
"natural childbirth." This medical theme, which handled with discretion and good taste, can have significant educational value
for adults and also for older adolescents. However, the subject matter itself is too sacred, private and personal for indiscriminate
showing in entertainment motion picture theaters.

Cat Girl (Am. Intl.) B
Objection: This pseudo-science film offers some justification for a belief in the transmigration of personality.

Baby Doll (War.) C
Objection: The subject matter of this film is morally repellent both in theme and treatment. It dwells almost without variation or relief upon carnal suggestiveness in action, dialogue and costuming. Its unmitigated emphasis on lust and the various scenes of cruelty are degrading and corruptive. As such, it is grievously offensive to Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency.

Moon Is Blue, The (United Artists) C
Objection: The subject matter of this picture in its substance and manner of presentation seriously offends and tends to deny
or ignore Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency and dwells hardly without variations upon suggestiveness
in situations and dialogue.

Harvest (Regain) (French) (Marcel Pagnol-French Cinema Center, Inc.) B
Objection: The story treats of a relationship which apparently is one of free love. The film is unfolded with a general emphasis
upon naturalism.

Forever Amber (20th Century-Fox) B
Notice: The classification of this film has been changed from C— Condemned (1946-47) to B — Morally Objectionable in Part. Revisions made in this film are deemed sufficient to meet substantially the original objection of the Legicn that the picture glorified immorality. "Forever Amber" still lacks the adequate morally compensating values which should be present in a story of this kind.

Tea and Sympathy (MGM) B
Objection: This film, based on a stage play of the same name which was highly controversial because of theme and treatment, has been adapted to the screen with certain changes that repair in a limited manner the original moral offenses. However, the solution of the plot still tends to arouse undue sympathy for and to condone immoral actions. In addition, it contains suggestive sequences.

Teenage Rebel (Fox) B
Objection: Although purporting to show the ill effects visited upon children through a broken home, this film, nevertheless, tends to reflect the acceptability of divorce and to justify remarriage.

[Big Magilla]

The ratings of all films reviewed by the Legion of Decency from 1936-1959 can be found here:

https://archive.org/details/motionpictu ... 8/mode/2up

Reasons for films rated B (objectionable) and C (condemned) are provided in most instances.

Here are a few entries:

Some Like It Hot (UA) B
Objection: This film, though it purports to be a comedy, contains screen material elements that are judged to be seriously
offensive to Christian and traditional standards of morality and decency. Furthermore, its treatment dwells almost without relief
on gross suggestiveness in costuming, dialogue and situations.

Miracle of Morgan's Creek, The (Paramount) B
Objection: Light treatment of marriage; reflects the acceptability of divorce.

Miracle on 34th Street (20th Century-Fox) B
Objection: Reflects the acceptability of divorce.

Reefer Madness (Tell Your Children) (G&H Production-George Hirliman) C
Objection: Treats of the traffic in and the use and evil effects of marihuana; suggestive scenes and implications.

Sullivan's Travels (Paramount) B
Objection: Light treatment of marriage.

Summertime (United Artists) B
Objection: Tends to arouse undue sympathy for immoral actions; suggestive sequences.

Streetcar Named Desire, A (Warners) B
Objection: Suggestive dialogue and scenes; low moral tone.

Anatomy of a Murder (Col.) S.C.
Observation: The clinical analysis with which the subject matter of this film (rape) is so explicitly and frankly detailed is judged
to exceed the bounds of moral acceptability and propriety in a mass medium of entertainment.

[Mister Tee]

So, some comments on the Condemned list from the years pre-dating my active awareness. (And I've never seen this list before, so many thanks for providing it.)

There are a whole lot of movies on the list of which I've never heard. Clearly, sex was the driving force for the inclusion of many with which I am familiar. Nudity of any kind was verboten, from Ecstasy through And God Created Woman, through Contempt and The Pawnbroker, maybe even The Last Picture Show. Even clothing so tight it made audiences visualize someone naked, a la The Outlaw, was enough for the hammer to come down.

Beyond that, the group had a knack for stigmatizing the greatest of our overseas filmmakers, conferring the distinction upon Renoir, Carne, Duvivier in the early years (Carne twice -- though they did spare him for Children of Paradise), then Ophuls, Bergman, most of the French New Wave, Antonioni and Fellini. Certain subjects, beyond raciness, caused trouble: the idea of suicide (that seems to be Hotel du Nord's sin), and any kind of questioning religious dogma (Black Narcissus and Viridiana -- of course, Bunuel was practically daring them on that last one).

You have to assume they went out of their way to concentrate on subtitled movies and let American equivalents slide. That they could single out those European masterpieces, while letting, just for instance, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Some Like It Hot sail by, smacks of favoritism. The MPAA has, of course, often been accused of the same.

I'm a bit surprised not to see Victim on the 1961 list. If not one but two Oscar Wilde bios were damned just a year prior, how could the most pro-gay film to date have been given a pass?

As I noted earlier, it was reported at the time that Kiss Me, Stupid was the first American film to get the C after Baby Doll. The Wikipedia entry seems to repeat this. Does this mean A Cold Wind in August was somehow deemed not-American? (I've never been able to track that film down. Would love to see it.)

I've somehow never seen Forever Amber, either. This description rouses my till now minor interest.

That the relatively bland I Am a Camera was blackballed, while the far sexier Cabaret had no issue, perfectly illustrates how much times changed even this group's standards.

There are a couple of films on the list I only know because they turned up during the year I had Filmstruck -- Clouzot's outstanding Le Corbeau, and No Orchids for Miss Blandish, a gangster noir whose spot on the list baffles me.

And the inclusion of Reefer Madness -- which by the time I was in college was a hugely popular "how stupid can a movie be?" item -- proves the Legion refused to let some subjects be even dealt with, no matter how critical they were.

[Big Magilla]

I think it was the sexualizing of old ladies like Estelle Winwood's character that they found offensive about The Producers.

Don't you think back in 1968 the hilarious scenes with Christopher Hewett were what they found offensive? People were still pretty anal about the gay community back then.

Who knows for sure, but I think the uptight old ladies that dominated the Legion at the time would have been mortified by the sexualizing of their sisters at the start of the film and may not have sat through the rest of it.

[Reza]

I think it was the sexualizing of old ladies like Estelle Winwood's character that they found offensive about The Producers.

Don't you think back in 1968 the hilarious scenes with Christopher Hewett were what they found offensive? People were still pretty anal about the gay community back then.

[Reza]

I find this all very amusing that even the West has/had a religious "Mullah" bent like in my neck of the woods.

Here most of the country is enjoying Barbie while the Punjab province has banned it. Oppenheimer is playing here to packed houses all over with Pugh's nude moments blacked out from the neck down. However, after 2 days in the cinema there are murmers going around of banning the film because of the nudity. And this is AFTER the censors passed it with minor cuts / censor of the nude scenes.

[Big Magilla]

I think it was the sexualizing of old ladies like Estelle Winwood's character that they found offensive about The Producers.

Just to be clear, I don't think my parents bothered reading the Tablet which is why I had to tell them what the ratings on films which raised their eyebrows were.

My mother was a big Hitchcock fan so anything he made was OK with her. She was also a big fan of pre-code films which she would have seen as a young girl having been born in 1920. Mae West, Joan Blondell, and Marlene Dietrich were favorites of hers.

[Mister Tee]

I can remember (mindlessly) doing the pledge during some Sunday Mass while I was in grade school.

I guess I was usually aware of the Legion ratings during those years, because I saw them every week in The Tablet. But I don't recall my family being real stringent about them. My mother took us to see Bye Bye Birdie, the Easter show at Radio City. A few days later, someone in the schoolyard mentioned it was rated A-3 - For Adults, which my mother had clearly never bothered to check. I also remember the listing had a caveat that "Any film not listed here is not recommended to any filmgoer". Well, for the first month or so of its release, for whatever reason, Mary Poppins wasn't listed anywhere. I recall my father openly mocking this. My parents weren't exactly progressive firebrands in those days (though they are now, contra the direction most of their remaining contemporaries took), but they knew enough to take all this with a grain of salt.

Side issue: if The Tablet qualifies as a liberal paper today, that constitutes a sea change. Back in my youth, its editorial policy was slightly to the right of Genghis Khan.

Once I got to high school, we moved to Westchester, so I didn't have The Tablet as source anymore. And movies changed so radically -- and I was so ravenous to see them all -- that Legion ratings were no longer of any consequence. The organization also kind of backed off in those years, presumably desirous of not looking utterly antediluvian. They created a new category: A-4, "For Adults with Reservations" -- which seemed to be for movies they'd at one time have labeled Condemned or, at least, B - Morally Objectionable in Part for All, but which were too much part of the mainstream zeitgeist for them to think they'd discourage their congregation from attending. (The category title felt like they were saying "You can watch this stuff, but somehow block it from reaching your consciousness") This was the slot where films like The Graduate and Midnight Cowboy ended up. The group still went off the deep end on a few films -- stigmatizing Rosemary's Baby for the devil worship (though the movie is hardly pro-Satan), Reflections in a Golden Eye and The Killing of Sister George (for the gay stuff, one presumes), and, most hilariously, The Producers (for the transvestite? I can't think of any other reason).

Post 1970, I wasn't even aware they still existed, and I find it fascinating which films they slapped with the C (despite their growing impotence as ruling body). Some seem obvious -- Last Tango for the butter scene, The Carey Treatment for its abortion topic (a year prior to Roe), Rocky Horror for its sexual flaunting, Pretty Baby for the child porn (that one'd probably get some support, today). But Billy Jack? I guess for the rape (though, again, it's hardly like the film endorsed the action). Ice Castles? I only ever half-watched it on HBO about 40 years ago, but I thought of it as a Hallmark movie. (Though IMDB says there's suggestion of an underage romance, so maybe that's it?) And Same Time, Next Year? I get they might take offense at the idea of cheerful yearly adultery, but the execution is so bourgeios-friendly, it feels silly the film is put in the same slot with Blow Up and The Devils. Such out-of-touch-ness makes it seems almost inevitable the organization would fold up its tent that very year.

I also find quite interesting the films cited with the scarlet C in the years before my awareness. I'll comment on them at greater length, but separately: it feels like a different subject, plus this particular post has got long as it is. I'll return at some point with a follow-up.

[Big Magilla]

Dan, it depended when and where you grew up.

The annual pledge was a very real thing on the East Coast in the late 1950s and early 60s.

Like Tee, we had the Tablet (which is still being published - https://thetablet.org/ - by the Brooklyn Diocese which covers Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island.) It's a very liberal newspaper now.

I remember that from 13-16 when I wanted to go to the movies, I had to tell my mother what I/we were going to see and what the Legion of Decency rating for the film was if it sounded objectionable.

There wasn't much chance of seeing a condemned movie as our local theatres never showed them. Films classified as objectionable were the ones that were verboten in the days before the MPAA ratings. Somehow, I got away with Vertigo and Some Like It Hot, but I had to sneak into Peyton Place and Anatomy of a Murder.

Baby Doll was a cause celebre for Franics Cardinal Spellman who ruled the roost from St. Patrick's Cathedral as the bishop of the New York archdiocese. Priests were ordered to lecture on it from the pulpit when it was released at the end of 1956. But by 1960, when I worked at a theatre after school, in the evenings and on weekends, I, of course, got to see everything including Never on Sunday which played our 3,000-seat theatre without any fuss. By then, most Catholics were of the opinion that the Church should stay out of the bedroom. Ignoring the Church's rants about birth control had extended to its rants about movies. Banning films were soon to be considered as evil as banning books and the Church gradually gave up the notion.

The rants actually helped the box office of some very bad movies. The Moon Is Blue was deadly dull. Baby Doll was grotesque. Kiss Me, Stupid was virtually unwatchable. The ridiculous condemnation of The Pawnbroker, which I saw when it played on the base in Germany that I was stationed at in 1966-1967, was probably the last straw for support of the Legion of Decency. After that I don't think many people paid attention to the Legion and its ratings. It never again made headlines. I had no idea until recently that Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, and Carrie were condemned. The book on which A Clockwork Orange is based has long been a staple in Catholic high schools.

How silly the whole thing seems in retrospect, but taking the annual pledge was as real as the infamous duck-and-cover drills kids were subjected to in schools in the 1950s and 60s.

https://www.history.com/news/duck-cover ... -arms-race

[Mister Tee]

How were these condemnations communicated? Did the mainstream press cover them? Or just more internally within the Catholic Church?

There were cases where the notoriety of the movie involved would push it into mainstream territory. I remember my father telling us Kiss Me, Stupid was the first American film to be Condemned since Baby Doll, a fact I presume he read in the newspaper. And everyone knew that Never on Sunday had been Condemned.

Most commonly, people probably found it in their Catholic-oriented newspapers. We used to have The Brooklyn Tablet around the house, which had a listing of all films by "decency rating".

And I do believe -- though this could apocryphal -- some churches read the names of the Condemned from the pulpit.

I'll have much to say about this overall topic, but not till later in the weekend.

But I will throw this one in now: what a wow, that the 1949 Blue Lagoon was Condemned. What would those people have done with the 1980 version?

[danfrank]

How were these condemnations communicated? Did the mainstream press cover them? Or just more internally within the Catholic Church? As I mentioned in the other thread, I heard about the Legion from my mom. I myself went to Catholic Church as a kid in the 60s and 70s until I scandalously refused to be confirmed as a young teen. Throughout my years of going to mass and catechism (i.e., Catholic education for kids who didn’t attend Catholic schools) I never remember hearing about certain movies being condemned. So, how much of the general public was aware of these proclamations? And is there any evidence that they had an influence on the box office?

[Big Magilla]

Also known as the National Legion of Decency, here are some films that were condemned over the years:

1936 - The Private Life of Henry VIII listed 3 years after everyone had seen it.

1939 - French imports La Bete Humaine and Le Jour se Leve and marijuana film Reefer Madness included.

1940 - Strange Cargo rescued from list after MGM made several cuts in the Gable-Crawford film.

1941 - Two-Faced Woman, Crawford's last MGM film rescued from list after MGM made several cuts.

1943 - The Outlaw initially listed but eventually rescued after several cuts by RKO.

1947 - Black Narcissus and Forever Amber listed but eventually rescued after cuts were made to the film - the cuts to Black Narcissus, later restored, were extremely intrusive.

1948 - César, a 1936 French release, condemned upon its initial U.S. release.

1949 - The Jean Simmons version of The Blue Lagoon is condemned for being "almost" pornographic, rescued after 15 minutes of cuts.

1949 - Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero is condemned.

1950 - The French version of Gigi is condemned as is the reissue of the 1930 version of The Blue Angel.

1951 - La Ronde is condemned.

1953 - The Moon Is Blue is condemned and denied Production Code Approval.

1954 - One Summer of Happiness is condemned.

1955 - I Am a Camera is condemned.

1956 - Baby Doll, And God Created Woman, Stella, and Nana are condemned.

1957 - Smiles of a Summer Night, the source material for A Little Night Music, is condemned.

1958 - The Danielle Darrieux version of Lady Chatterly's Lover is condemned.

1959 - The Third Sex is condemned.

1960 - Breathless, Never on Sunday, Oscar Wilde, and The Trials of Oscar Wilde are condemned.

1961 - L'Avvenura, Jules and Jim, and Viridiana are condemned.

1962 - Boccaccio ' 70 is condemned.

1963 - 8 1/2 is condemned.

1964 - Kiss Me Stupid and the Kim Novak version of Of Human Bondage are condemned.

1965 - The Pawnbroker is condemned.

1966 - Blow-Up is condemned.

1967 - Reflections in a Golden Eye and Valley of the Dolls are condemned.

1968 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Rosemary's Baby, and The Producers are condemned.

1969 - Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice is condemned.

1971 - A Clockwork Orange and The Last Picture Show are condemned.

1973 - Last Tango in Paris is condemned.

1975 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show is condemned.

1976 - Carrie, The Omen, and Taxi Driver are condemned.

1978 - Pretty Baby and Same Time, Next Year are condemned.