PUBLIC MORALITY

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19176, 6 December 1927, Page 9

PUBLIC MORALITY

OBJECTIONABLE FILMS.

OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE IN PLAYS. I FROM OUR OWN COaBB3i'OXDI.S'T.) LONDON, October 19,

Protests against the presentation of what are stated to be objectionable scenes in films and the use of offensive language in plays have been sent to the Earl of Cromer (Lord Chamberlain) and to the Right Hon. T P. O'Connor (president of the British Board of Film Censors) by the London Public Morality Council. Thd council have acted, upon representations by various religious and social organisations. ln« document forwarded to the Lord Chamberlain, to which are attached several hundred signatures, representing 1-a organisations, states: "There is a growing use in stage plays of objectionable words and phrases for which there is apparently no necessity. This language has been used in plays which depict life outside the United Kingdom and others which deal with the Kestoration period." It is pointed out that the latitude claimed for plays of this class "might tend to lower the standard of good manners and to shock religious feelings." The memorial proceeds: "From personal observation or reliable information we are convinced that there is growing tendency to present scenes in cinema films depicting attempted offences against women and girls, and that such scenes are calculated to be harmful to impressionable and youthful minds." Protest by Bishops. Both memorials are signed by the Bishop of London and the Bishops of Willesden, Stepney, Blackburn, Hereford, Chester, Woolwich, and St. Albans, and other signatories include Lord Kinnaird, the Kcv. Dr. 11. C. Gillie, the Eev. Dr. F. B. Meyer, General Bram■well Booth, and among the organisations also represented arc the Alliance of Honour, the Church Army, the National Union of Women Teachers, and a number of Nonconformist bodies. The Bishop of London, who forwarded these memorials, has _ received an assurance from both officials that, the matters raised will have early and very serious consideration. "There is little doubt, said Mr Howard M. Tyrer (the secretary to_ the Public Morality Council), "that since the influx of American plays to this country the language which we complain about has been used on the stage." At the request of the Lord Chamberlain, the Bishop of London has forwarded him specimens of the passages complained of. These, Mr yre explained, had been taken from nearly a dozen plays at present being performed in London.