Law: See No Evil

Mike Nichols' Carnal Knowledge is a black comedy of sex that shows a great deal of Ann-Margret without her clothing. It won an Oscar nomination for the actress and raves from many critics as one of the best films of 1971. But the Supreme Court's anti-pornography ruling of June 21 decreed that local judges could henceforth decide for themselves whether any movie violates "community" standards, as opposed to those of the nation as a whole. "It is neither realistic nor constitutionally sound," wrote Chief Justice Warren Burger, to require "that the people of Maine or Mississippi accept public depiction of conduct found tolerable in Las Vegas or New York City." The Georgia Supreme Court therefore decided last week, by a vote of 4 to 3, that Carnal Knowledge (which was rated R rather than X by the M.P.A.A.) deserved to be banned.

The case involved Billy Jenkins, a theater owner in Albany (pop. 77,000), who was arrested for showing the movie last year. Jenkins was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison, to be served on probation with payment of a $750 fine under a 1968 state law banning material that appeals to "a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex or excretion, and is utterly without redeeming social value." As a definition, that might well be reasonable enough, and as specific as the U.S. Supreme Court's new rules require. But that such a definition of pornography should be applied to as serious a film as Carnal Knowledge indicates how drastically the Supreme Court's rules may be interpreted, or misinterpreted, by local authorities trying to decide what may or may not be seen by the public.