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Silencing Cinema pp 241–254Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Legion of Decency and the Movies

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Part of the Global Cinema book series (GLOBALCINE)

Abstract

In Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1988), a nostalgic look at growing up in a small Sicilian village, the local movie theater dominates the social life of the town. Everyone went to the movies for entertainment, information, excitement, and romance. But at least one person feared the power and influence this modern entertainment had on the villagers: the local priest. The priest insisted on previewing and censoring the films before they contaminated his flock with the infectious immorality of the outside world. The priest insisted that every screen kiss be removed. As one frustrated villager complained: “I haven’t seen a kiss in 20 years!” The experience of watching Cinema Paradiso, while humorous, was shared by movie fans worldwide. Convinced that films were capable of seductively changing the moral and ethical values of audiences, censors and moral guardians from Sicily to Hollywood fought to control the content of movies.

Keywords

  • Motion Picture
  • Production Code
  • National Legion
  • Empire State Building
  • Film Censorship

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Gregory D. Black
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    © 2013 Daniel Biltereyst and Roel Vande Winkel

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    Black, G.D. (2013). The Legion of Decency and the Movies. In: Biltereyst, D., Winkel, R.V. (eds) Silencing Cinema. Global Cinema. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137061980_15

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