Books: Cinema Censorship

CENSORED: THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE MOVIES—Morris Ernst & Pare Lorentz— Cape & Smith ($2.75).

Authors Morris Ernst & Pare Lorentz here put forth a vigorous polemic against the present apparatus of cinema censorship. Say they: though the National Board of Review does not officially censor, merely "suggests" changes, recommends certain cinemas, withholds recom- mendation from others, in practice it amounts to a federal censorship board. Official state censorship boards exist in six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kansas, Virginia, Ohio; the Pennsylvania board is the most severe, the Virginia most lenient.

Authors Ernst & Lorentz list shots and captions liable to be cut: portrayal of crime or suicide; display of dangerous weapons; cruelty, mean or mischievous; capital punishment; gambling; profanity, lip or title; drinking; narcotics; sex, suggestiveness or overpassionate love making; nudity and indecent exposure; vulgar dancing; improper reference to women.

Censored is illuminated by lively illustrations: shots from famed cinemas deleted by various state censors, by photo- graphs of some of the censors themselves. Says Colyumist Heywood Broun: "I al— most believe that the authors could prove their case by doing no more than print the portraits of the men and women who have been set in the high seats and commissioned to frame the taste of the entire picture-going world."