-7?
THE
MENACE
OF
IMMORA
MOVIES
L J --"
Film producers are trapped
by. a dirt-for-dollars
philosophy, says this best-selling
author, and it's time
they learned it's a road to ruin
By SLOAN WILSON
Editor-it' Note: Sloan Wilson,
who wrote "The Man in the
Gray Flannel Suit" and whose
latest novel is "A Sense of
Values," joins a lengthening
list of outstanding writers
Billy Graham, Pearl Buck,
Harry Golden, Willy Ley,
Philip Wylie who have con
tributed to making family
weekly a more provocative and informative mag
azine for its readers. His analysis o movie-makers'
preoccupation with sex, perversion, and violence
may cause some disagreements, particularly since
his own popular novel, "A Summer Place," be
came a highly controversial movie. His opinions,
however, are presented as a literate man's reaction
to a growing trend in our culture.
It's hard to go to a movie theater these days
without wondering what in the world is hap
pening to American motion pictures and foreign
films, too, for that matter. The most sordid por
trayals of adultery, psychopathic crime, and vio
lence of almost every description are blatantly de
picted. They are bad enough to make many parents
hesitate to allow their children to attend.
The reason for the rash of tawdry movies is not
a mysterious decline in the taste of the American
public, nor even in that of the producers. Holly
wood is full of highly skilled men who long to
make genuinely good movies, and who are con
vinced that an ample audience exists for them.
The difficulty is that Hollywood during the past 10
years has been on the edge of financial panic. The
makers of movies tend to resort to dirt when
they're afraid they can't make a living otherwise.
It is an ironic fact that most films which are
advertised as "daring" only reflect the financial
fears of the producers, who are seeking "insurance"
at the box office. Sensational scenes are cheap to
produce, and they can be counted upon to draw
some kind of a crowd. The producer who has bor
rowed millions of dollars to make a movie and
who has seen good films fail financially has to be
brave to withstand the temptation of pay dirt.
Yes, the producers have financial troubles but
does that mean that the American public has to
settle for trash at their neighborhood movie house?
Is censorship necessary?
Censorship has been tried often and in many
forms, and is still being tried. It never really works.
Dirt, of course,, is not just certain story themes,
but in the way such themes are treated, and treat
ment apparently is impossible to regulate by law.
If a code were written to forbid films which dealt
with sexuality, crime, or insanity, Shakespeare
himself would find it impossible to write good
dramas if he were living today.
To DRAW up a code which restricted Americans to
a film diet of dog stories, horse operas, and po
lite little stories in which nobody ever did anything
wrong would be an immoral act in itself. Neither
the audience nor the artist should be blindfolded
by laws of censorship; they simply should be pro
tected from those who wish to pervert the great
spectacle of life into a dirty little tent show.
Of course, there always will have to be some
censorship to prevent outright obscenity, but it is
difficult to figure out what should be done beyond
that If we are going to try to prevent immorality
in films, we are going to have to agree on some
sort of definition of it, and that is never easy.
My own conviction is that anything is immoral
if it subtracts from the dignity of the individual
or of humanity as a whole, and that anything is
moral if it adds to the fundamental dignity of man-,
kind. A film which moves an audience to under
standing and compassion for human weaknesses
seems to me to be moral.
From all this, I conclude that more censorship
is not the answer to the present flood of tawdry
motion pictures. What is the answer? Probably
there is no easy, over-all solution. Just as there
always have been some scurrilous books and maga
zines, which we tolerate for the sake of a free press,
there always will be some scurrilous movies. The
hope is not that such films will disappear entirely,
but that more good dramas will be made to re
place them in most local theaters.
Fortunately, Hollywood has become more pros
perous and less panic-stricken in the last two
years. As the movie makers regain their confi
dence, they may feel that they have to resort less
to the box-office "insurance" of dirt and may be
emboldened to take the great risk inherent in the
job of making genuinely good movies.
7hat can individuals do to help create condi-
tions in which more good films will be made?
To the extent that any individual can do anything
to affect so large an enterprise as the motion-picture
industry, it would help if people supported
good films. All too many people who complain
about the lack of good movies don't go to see the
really fine ones.
Eventually, movie makers will realize that
movies still have a bright future and are not going
to be relegated to the position of cheap side shows.
. There is a big enough audience in America for
good films to justify the cost of producing them.
There are plenty of producers, directors, actors,
and writers who want nothing more than to re
cover their self-respect by making movies of last
ing value. Because these two facts are true, it can
only be a question of time before conditions are
created that will bring us more good movies.
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COVER:
The bright-eathered parakeets in Jacques
Lowe's photo make a colorul valentine for
our two human "lovebirds." They also
make popular pets, as you'll see on p. 8.
Weekly
February 12, 1961
LEONARD t. OAVIDOW Prridrt aril Pubtinhcr
WAITER C. DMYFUS Virr 1'rr.idrnf
PATRICK E. OIOUIKE rlrfrfrli.iiio Direror
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