The Catholic Crusade Against the Movies, 1940-1975Cambridge University Press, 1998 M01 13 - 302 pages For more than three decades the Catholic church through its Legion of Decency had the power that modern politicians only dream about: the power to control the content of Hollywood films. The Catholic Crusade against the Movies, 1940-1975 details how a religious organization got control of Hollywood and how films like The Outlaw, Duel in the Sun, A Streetcar Named Desire, Lolita, and Tea and Sympathy were altered by the Legion to make them morally acceptable. Documenting the inner workings of the Legion, this book also examines how the changes in the movie industry, the Catholic church, and American society at large in the post-World War II era eventually conspired against that institution's power and lead to its demise. |
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adults American Angeles approval audience Baby Doll banned believed Bicycle Thief Bitter Rice Boccaccio 70 box office Breen Burstyn Cardinal Spellman Catholic church Catholic Legion censorship boards cinema classification Commonweal condemned condemned film consultors director Dolce Vita Duel entertainment Father Sullivan film critic filmmakers Hays Hollywood Hollywood Censored homosexuality Hughes Humbert Ibid IFCA immoral industry Italian Kazan Kubrick La Dolce Vita Laura Legion of Decency Lewt Little Lolita Looram Lord Martin Quigley Masterson McNulty million Miracle Moon Is Blue moral Motion Picture MPAA Msgr NCOMP NLOD nudity Open City Outlaw Pawnbroker PCA seal play Preminger priests producers Production Code protest Quigley's refused reviewers scene screen script Selznick sexual Shurlock Stanley story Streetcar studio Suddenly Last Summer Tea and Sympathy theaters theme tion told U.S. Supreme Court Variety wanted Warner William wrote York young Zanuck