This is a list of films condemned by the National Legion of Decency, a United States
Catholic organization. The
National Legion of Decency was established in 1933 and reorganized in 1965 as the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures (NCOMP). Under each of these names, it rated films according to their suitability for viewing, assigning a code of A, B, or C, with that of C identified as "Condemned" for viewing by Catholics. The C rating was issued from 1933 until 1978. The Legion's ratings were applied to movies made in the United States as well as those imported from other countries. Since it reviewed films when released for distribution, the Legion usually rated non-U.S. films a few years after their first release in their country of origin, occasionally years after. For example, it rated
Marcel Pagnol's 1936 César in 1948 and
Marlene Dietrich's 1930 The Blue Angel in 1950.
The rating system was revised in 1978 and the designation "condemned" has not been assigned to films since then. Instead, films that would earlier have been rated C or B were all rated O, which meant "morally offensive". NCOMP reassigned ratings to old films based on its new system, making it impossible to determine from their own database whether a film it now classifies O was originally B or C.[1] In 1980, NCOMP ceased operations, along with the biweekly Review, which by then had published ratings for 16,251 feature films.
Legion-organized
boycotts made a C rating harmful to a film's distribution and profitability. In some periods the Legion's aim was to threaten producers with a C rating, demand revisions, and then award a revised B rating. At other times the Legion, preferring to avoid the notoriety and publicity that films gained from having a C rating revised to B, refused to remove their original rating, which resulted in industry self-censorship that achieved the Legion's aims with less public conflict. For example,
Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire was cut by 4 minutes to avoid a C rating,[2] and
Billy Wilder cut scenes from the original play to avoid a C for The Seven Year Itch. Spartacus underwent similar editing to avoid a C rating.[3]
Most condemned films were made outside of the studio system, being either exploitation films produced by Poverty Row studios or movies made outside the United States for audiences that were principally non-American and non-English speaking, often distributed by exploitation presenters.[a] Of the 53 movies the Legion had placed on its condemned list by 1943, only
Howard Hughes' The Outlaw was the product of a major U.S. studio and it would not receive a wide release until 1946.[citation needed] After The Moon is Blue (1953) and Baby Doll (1956) received C ratings, it was a decade before two more major Hollywood movies received the C rating: The Pawnbroker (1964) and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964).[5]
Films are often reported to have been condemned in general terms, that is, they were criticized or even denounced, when they did not receive the Legion's C rating. Some rely on a list of films that were condemned early in the 1930s by the
Archdiocese of Chicago in advance of the Legion of Decency's rating system,[6][b]Turner Classic Movies, for example, has programmed a festival of "Movies Condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency" that included several that were not rated C by the Legion.[8][c]
Damaged Goods, an exploitation film released by
Grand National Films Inc., a minor producer-distributor that operated from 1936–1939. Also distributed as Marriage Forbidden.[10]
Damaged Lives, a sexploitation film about venereal disease, purportedly commissioned by a health council.[10]
This Thing Called Love, initially condemned for failing to reflect the "Christian concept of marriage"; the Legion revised the rating to B after
Columbia Pictures removed fifteen lines of dialogue the Legion objected to.[18]
Time in the Sun, a documentary compiled from footage shot by
Sergei Eisenstein. The Legion called its account of Mexican history "an ideological perversion of the subject to purposes of Marxian Communism".[19]
Two-Faced Woman,
Greta Garbo's last film, initially condemned for its "immoral and un-Christian attitude toward marriage and its obligations; impudently suggestive scenes, dialogue, and situations; [and] suggestive costumes".[20][21] Within a month
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer made changes sufficient for the Legion to revise its rating to B.[22][e]
The Outlaw, a Western produced and directed by
Howard Hughes, initially condemned. Rating changed to B in 1950 after revisions.[10]
1945
Mom and Dad,[24] a sexploitation film that purported to teach sexual hygiene.
1947
Black Narcissus, a British import from the
Powell and Pressburger team about Anglican nuns challenged by life in an exotic environment, initially condemned.[24] The Legion reclassified it A-II (morally unobjectionable for adults) after revisions to "all prints of this film".[10]
Forever Amber, when
20th Century Fox encountered distribution problems because of the C rating, its president
Spyros Skouras got the Legion to call off its pickets and boycott campaign by making cuts to the film, adding "an innocuous prologue", and making "a humiliating public apology" to the Legion.[24][25]
Passionelle, a 1947 French film by
Roger Blin, also known as Pour une nuit d'amour, initially condemned.[30] Rated B following revisions for copies distributed in the U.S. and Canada.[10]
Torment, 1944 Swedish film with a screenplay by
Ingmar Bergman, initially condemned.[30] When revised, its rating was changed to B for prints distributed in the U.S.[10]
Bitter Rice, an Italian import (Riso Amaro), initially condemned[34] for "Suggestive situations and costuming. Suicide in plot solution." Revisions earned a B rating, which applied only to prints in the U.S.[10]
Jungle Stampede, which according to the Legion "purports to be a documentary and educational in nature" but condemned for its handling of its subject matter, "native customs and habits".[10]
The Ways of Love, the umbrella title used for distributing three foreign language films, which the Legion condemned as a group.[48] The principal film, both in length and in terms of the controversy it generated, was
Roberto Rossellini's The Miracle (1948), distributed in Europe as L'Amore with a companion film, The Human Voice, also by Rossellini. The two other short films that The Ways of Love included were
Jean Renoir's "
A Day in the Country" (1936) and
Marcel Pagnol's Jofroi (1933).
The French Line, an
RKO musical starring
Jane Russell, condemned for "grossly obscene, suggestive and indecent action, costuming and dialogue". The Legion said it was "capable of grave, evil influence upon those who patronize it, especially youth".[10]
The Desperate Women, a
Majestic Pictures film; the Legion said that "it ignores completely essential and supernatural values associated with questions of this nature".[10]
Baby Doll, produced by
Elia Kazan and
Tennessee Williams; the Legion called its subject matter "morally repellent both in theme and treatment" and said its "scenes of cruelty are degrading and corruptive".[10]
Bed of Grass, a Greek import the Legion charged with "sheer animalism", originally titled Agioupa, to koritsi tou kampou.[10]
The Third Sex (1957), a German import directed by
Veit Harlan; also known as Bewildered Youth or Different from You and Me, originally Das dritte Geschlecht.[73][10]
L'Avventura,
Antonioni's 1960 Italian film was deemed "totally unacceptable", "grossly suggestive and pornographic in intent". The Legion said that "the theme of this film is developed in an atmosphere of complete moral ambiguity".[75]
Boccaccio '70[77] The Legion objected to its "grossly suggestive concentration upon indecent costuming, situations and dialogue". By this time the Legion had adopted a policy of not reconsidering a film's rating once it was widely distributed, even if revised, but in this case the Legion allowed that the film's C rating would not be valid once the film was edited for television broadcast.[78]
Pink Flamingos, a
black comedy film condemned for its explicit content before it received the
NC-17 rating later in 1997.[85] It was banned in several countries because of it.[86]
^Sova nevertheless describes Ecstasy as "one of the few foreign films to earn a 'C' (condemned) rating from the Catholic Legion of Decency."[4]
^Other Catholics proposed announcing only lists of films approved for viewing so as not to publicize the names of films judged unsuitable for viewing. Those backing this strategy, such as the
Diocese of Brooklyn, used a list drawn up by the
Federation of Catholic Alumnae.[7]
^ Three 1933 films included by TCM were not rated by the Legion: Design for Living, Baby Face, and Wild Boys of the Road. Others misrepresent the Chicago list of the product of the Legion of Decency as well.[9]
^The Legion used the title Smashing the Vice Racket.[10]
^The New York Times described the resulting film as "slightly laundered". It said "this ancient fable of the wife who parades as her own gaudy twin sister to get her husband back" was altered at the Legion's insistence by "the insertion of a telephone call wherein the husband learns in advance of his wife's intended deception."[23]
^"Films Classified in Catholic List"(PDF). New York Times. July 8, 1934. Retrieved April 9, 2017. a check list issued today to Chicago Catholics by a board of censors created to 'furnish necessary information to those signing the movie pledge' of the Legion of Decency. The check list, issued for the Chicago Archdiocese.