Starting on July 1, 1934, all films were required to obtain a certificate from the Production Code Administration in order to be released. Previous to this, there was a code, but it was treated as a joke and nobody really followed it; the only consequences of releasing a movie with controversial themes were boycotts. The code was enforced from 1934-1954 by a man named Joseph Breen, a prominent Roman Catholic layman who was known for both his staunch morals and anti-semitism; this was a large reason behind there being no anti-Nazi films from Hollywood until 1939 even though the (mostly) Jewish studio heads were extremely interested in making them for obvious reasons. All films had to pass muster with what he deemed to be acceptable to be released, in a time when movies were the dominant form of entertainment-a maganize wrote in 1936 that Breen’s position gave him “more influence in standardizing world thinking than Mussolini, Hitler, or Stalin.”
This system was in effect until the code was dissolved in 1968 and the current MPAA ratings system came into place, even if it started to loosen from 1952 on. This was due to a combination of factors:
- 1952 Supreme Court case overturned a former decision of the court and found that films were protected by the first amendment
- TV was beginning to become a major competitor for people’s free time for entertainment, and movies needed to show people something they couldn’t get on TV
- Foreign films were no covered by the code and began to gain a foothold in the U.S.
- The American public’s tastes started to change and things that had previously been viewed as taboo were more acceptable.
In the interest of fully understanding how restrictive it was, here is the code in a slightly annotated form:
Resolved, That those things which are included in the following list shall not appear in pictures produced by the members of this Association, irrespective of the manner in which they are treated:
- Pointed profanity – by either title or lip – this includes the words “God,” “Lord,” “Jesus,” “Christ” (unless they be used reverently in connection with proper religious ceremonies), “hell,” “damn,” “Gawd,” and every other profane and vulgar expression however it may be spelled;
- Any licentious or suggestive nudity – in fact or in silhouette; and any lecherous or licentious notice thereof by other characters in the picture;
- The illegal traffic in drugs;
- Any inference of sex perversion;
- Sexual Slavery
- Miscegenation, or sex relationships between the white and black races;
- Sexual hygiene and venereal diseases;
- Scenes of actual childbirth – in fact or in silhouette;
- Children’s sex organs;
- Ridicule of the clergy;
- Willful offense to any nation, race or creed;
And be it further resolved, That special care be exercised in the manner in which the following subjects are treated, to the end that vulgarity and suggestiveness may be eliminated and that good taste may be emphasized:
- The use of the flag;
- International relations (avoiding picturizing in an unfavorable light another country’s religion, history, institutions, prominent people, and citizenry);
- Arson;
- The use of firearms;
- Theft, robbery, safe-cracking, and dynamiting of trains, mines, buildings, etc. (having in mind the effect which a too-detailed description of these may have upon the impressionable);
- Brutality and possible gruesomeness;
- Technique of committing murder by whatever method;
- Methods of smuggling;
- Harsh interrogation methods (torture);
- Actual hangings or electrocutions as legal punishment for crime;
- Sympathy for criminals;
- Attitude toward public characters and institutions;
- Sedition (subversion against lawful authority);
- Apparent cruelty to children and animals;
- Branding of people or animals;
- The sale of women, or of a woman selling her virtue;
- Rape or attempted rape;
- Consummation of a marriage;
- Man and woman in bed together;
- Deliberate seduction of girls;
- The institution of marriage;
- Surgical operations;
- The use of drugs;
- Titles or scenes having to do with law enforcement or law-enforcing officers;
- Excessive or lustful kissing, particularly when one character or the other is a criminal. No single kiss could be beyond 3 seconds in length.
