Cinema: Cleavage & The Code

Which is more sexy—an actress' half-covered bosom or her uncovered legs?

British moviemakers, puzzled by U.S. cinemorality, want a serious answer to this question. For the past fortnight, the man who knows all anyone needs to know about U.S. censorship has been in London trying to explain it in simple English. It is a tough job—even for the Johnston Office's jowly, jolly Joe Breen. No. 1 U.S. "interpreter" of the Hollywood morality Code.

The basic fact that amazes the British: the Code is a voluntary brake Hollywood puts on itself. Its clearest purpose: to keep non-Hollywood censors—official and amateur—out of the industry's hair....