This is a list of films condemned by the National Legion of Decency, a United States Catholic organization. The National Legion of Decency was established in 1933 and reorganized in 1965 as the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures (NCOMP). Under each of these names, it rated films according to their suitability for viewing, assigning a code of A, B, or C, with that of C identified as "Condemned" for viewing by Catholics. The C rating was issued from 1933 until 1978. The Legion's ratings were applied to movies made in the United States as well as those imported from other countries. Since it reviewed films when released for distribution, the Legion usually rated non-U.S. films a few years after their first release in their country of origin, occasionally years after. For example, it rated Marcel Pagnol's 1936 César in 1948 and Marlene Dietrich's 1930 The Blue Angel in 1950.
The rating system was revised in 1978 and the designation "condemned" has not been assigned to films since then. Instead, films that would earlier have been rated C or B were all rated O, which meant "morally offensive". NCOMP reassigned ratings to old films based on its new system, making it impossible to determine from their own database whether a film it now classifies O was originally B or C. [1] In 1980, NCOMP ceased operations, along with the biweekly Review, which by then had published ratings for 16,251 feature films.
Legion-organized boycotts made a C rating harmful to a film's distribution and profitability. In some periods the Legion's aim was to threaten producers with a C rating, demand revisions, and then award a revised B rating. At other times the Legion, preferring to avoid the notoriety and publicity that films gained from having a C rating revised to B, refused to remove their original rating, which resulted in industry self-censorship that achieved the Legion's aims with less public conflict. For example, Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire was cut by 4 minutes to avoid a C rating, [2] and Billy Wilder cut scenes from the original play to avoid a C for The Seven Year Itch . Spartacus underwent similar editing to avoid a C rating. [3]
Most condemned films were made outside of the studio system, being either exploitation films produced by Poverty Row studios or movies made outside the United States for audiences that were principally non-American and non-English speaking, often distributed by exploitation presenters. [lower-alpha 1] Of the 53 movies the Legion had placed on its condemned list by 1943, only Howard Hughes' The Outlaw was the product of a major U.S. studio and it would not receive a wide release until 1946.[ citation needed ] After The Moon is Blue (1953) and Baby Doll (1956) received C ratings, it was a decade before two more major Hollywood movies received the C rating: The Pawnbroker (1964) and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964). [5]
Films are often reported to have been condemned in general terms, that is, they were criticized or even denounced, when they did not receive the Legion's C rating. Some rely on a list of films that were condemned early in the 1930s by the Archdiocese of Chicago in advance of the Legion of Decency's rating system, [6] [lower-alpha 2] Turner Classic Movies, for example, has programmed a festival of "Movies Condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency" that included several that were not rated C by the Legion. [8] [lower-alpha 3]
This section needs additional citations for verification .(April 2017) |
The Moon Is Blue is a 1953 American romantic comedy film produced and directed by Otto Preminger and starring William Holden, David Niven, and Maggie McNamara. Written by F. Hugh Herbert and based on his 1951 play of the same title, the film is about a young woman who meets an architect on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and quickly turns his life upside down. Herbert's play had also been a huge success in Germany, and Preminger decided to simultaneously film in English and German, using the same sets but different casts. The German-language film version is Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach.
Baby Doll is a 1956 American black comedy film directed by Elia Kazan and starring Carroll Baker, Karl Malden and Eli Wallach. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams, and adapted by Williams from his own one-act play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (1955). The plot focuses on a feud between two rival cotton gin owners in rural Mississippi.
And God Created Woman is a 1956 French romantic drama film directed by Roger Vadim in his directorial debut and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though not her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona, making her an overnight sensation.
The National Legion of Decency, also known as the Catholic Legion of Decency, was a Catholic group founded in 1934 by Archbishop of Cincinnati, John T. McNicholas, as an organization dedicated to identifying objectionable content in motion pictures on behalf of Catholic audiences. Members were asked to pledge to patronize only those motion pictures which did not "offend decency and Christian morality". The concept soon gained support from other churches.
Doris Wishman was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. She is credited with having directed and produced at least 30 feature films during a career spanning over four decades, most notably in the sexploitation film genre.
A sexploitation film is a class of independently produced, low-budget feature film that is generally associated with the 1960s and early 1970s, and that serves largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation films. The term "sexploitation" has been used since the 1940s.
In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scenes, had to be justified as part of the story.
Mom and Dad is a 1945 American sexploitation film directed by William Beaudine, and largely produced by the exploitation film maker and presenter Kroger Babb. Mom and Dad is considered the most successful film within its genre of "sex hygiene" films. Although it faced numerous legal challenges and was condemned by the National Legion of Decency, it became one of the highest-grossing films of the 1940s.
Kiss Me, Stupid is a 1964 American sex comedy film produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and starring Dean Martin, Kim Novak and Ray Walston.
The French Line is a 1953 American musical film starring Jane Russell made by RKO Radio Pictures, directed by Lloyd Bacon and produced by Edmund Grainger, with Howard Hughes as executive producer. The screenplay was by Mary Loos and Richard Sale, based on a story by Matty Kemp and Isabel Dawn. It was filmed in three strip technicolor and Dual strip polarized 3D during what many consider 3-D film's "golden era" of 1952-1954.
Two-Faced Woman is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by George Cukor and starring Greta Garbo in her final film role, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett, and Roland Young. The movie was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
To the People of the United States is a short propaganda film produced by the US Public Health Service in 1943 to warn the American GIs against syphilis. It was directed by Arthur Lubin and produced by Walter Wanger. The film was subject to protests from the Catholic Legion of Decency.
The 1960s and 1970s marked the rise of exploitation-style independent B movies; films which were mostly made without the support of Hollywood's major film studios. As censorship pressures lifted in the early 1960s, the low-budget end of the American motion picture industry increasingly incorporated the sort of sexual and violent elements long associated with so-called ‘exploitation’ films. The demise of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1968, coupled with the success of the exploitation film Easy Rider the following year fueled the trend throughout the subsequent decade. The success of the B-studio exploitation movement had a significant effect on the strategies of the major studios during the 1970s.
Le Blé en herbe is a 1954 French drama film by Claude Autant-Lara based on the 1923 novel of the same name by French novelist Colette. The film stars Edwige Feuillère, Pierre-Michel Beck, Nicole Berger, Robert Berri and Louis de Funès. It is black and white with a monaural soundtrack.
L'Amore ('Love') is a 1948 Italian drama anthology film directed by Roberto Rossellini starring Anna Magnani and Federico Fellini. It consists of two parts, The Human Voice, based on Jean Cocteau's 1929 play of the same title, and The Miracle, based on Ramón del Valle-Inclán's 1904 novel Flor de santidad. The second part was banned in the United States until it was cleared in 1952 by the Supreme Court's decision upholding the right to freedom of speech.
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve is a 1960 Spectacolor comedy film starring Mickey Rooney, and Mamie Van Doren. It is an American B-movie in which the plot revolves around a modern couple who dream that they are Adam and Eve. Others of their acquaintance assume the roles of various characters from the Book of Genesis during the fantasy sequences.
Lux Film was an Italian film distribution company founded by Riccardo Gualino in 1934.
This Thing Called Love is a 1940 American romantic comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Rosalind Russell and Melvyn Douglas as newlyweds with an odd arrangement: the wife insists on not sleeping together for a trial period. It is the second film adaptation of the play of the same name by Edwin Burke. The 1929 version, which shares the same title, is believed to be lost.
Jungle Stampede is a 1950 American adventure film directed by George Breakston and written by Ronald Davidson. The film stars George Breakston, Yorke Coplen, Ronald Davidson, Herman Schopp, Stan Lawrence-Brown and Miguel Roginsky. The film was released on July 28, 1950, by Republic Pictures. It was condemned by the National Legion of Decency.
Private Property, sometimes known as Private Property!, is a 1960 American independent crime film, directed by Leslie Stevens and starring Corey Allen, Warren Oates and Kate Manx.
a check list issued today to Chicago Catholics by a board of censors created to 'furnish necessary information to those signing the movie pledge' of the Legion of Decency. The check list, issued for the Chicago Archdiocese.
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: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The biography is more charitable than the Legion of Decency will give it credit for.
It was the first studio release to be condemned by the Legion....