Freedom of the Screen: Legal Challenges to State Film Censorship, 1915-1981

by Laura Wittern-Keller

Overview

Between 1907 and 1980, many state and local governments empowered motion picture censor boards with the legal authority to keep any movie they considered obscene, indecent, or harmful from being shown. Although the mainstream American film industry accepted the form of censorship known as "prior restraint," the independent distributors and exhibitors challenged the government censors in court. In Freedom of the Screen, Laura Wittern-Keller tells the story of those who fought prior restraint on movies. By drawing attention to this inequity—film was the only medium so constricted by the 1950s—the distributors pushed a reluctant judiciary to square its interpretation of movie expression with the rights of other media. As these legal interpretations gradually became more sympathetic to artistic freedom—largely because of the independent distributors' lawsuits—Hollywood was free to discard its outmoded restraints and deliver provocative, relevant movies to American audiences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813138404
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	01/11/2008
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Laura Wittern-Keller is visiting assistant professor of history and public policy at the University at Albany (SUNY) and the recipient of the New York State Archives Award for Excellence in Research. She also lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with her husband.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     1
The Origins of Governmental Film Censorship, 1907-1923     17
The Courts Provide No Relief, 1909-1927     39
Hollywood and the Legion of Decency, 1922-1934     51
Early Challenges to State Censors, 1927-1940     65
The First Amendment Resurfaces, 1946-1950     89
The Strange Case of The Miracle, 1950-1952     107
La Ronde, 1951-1954     149
The Tide Turns against the Censors, 1953-1957     175
The Seventh Case in Seven Years, 1957-1959     197
The Curtain Coming Down, 1957-1964     217
Fight for Freedom of the Screen, 1962-1965     231
Denouement, 1965-1981     247
Conclusion     273
Notes     283
Selected Bibliography     331
Index     343

Editorial Reviews

Wittern-Keller's book is a welcome addition to the scholarship on movie censorship, fills a significant, an important gap in the literature, and will be the baseline reference work on the history of state censorship.

Journal of American History

"This fascinating study helps us to understand the way American society evolved from general acceptance of movie censorship to a strong rejection of it."The author shows how Americans began to recognize that filmmakers, like the creators of books and newspapers, ought to enjoy the right of free speech under terms of the First Amendment. Wittern-Keller's well-researched investigation of the fight against censorship makes an important contribution to U.S. social, legal, and political history."—Robert Brent Toplin

From the Publisher