WHEAT FROM CHAFF

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 38, 7 May 1927, Page 23 (Supplement)

WHEAT FROM CHAFF

GOOD AND BAD PICTURES CENSORSHIP DENOUNCED Will Hays, “czar of the movies,” comes out with a forceful denunciation of censorship in a recent issue of the “Review of Reviews.”

Mr. Hays frowns on censorship in any form, and. hints that a constitutional amendment may be framed in the future to insure the movies the same freedom that speech and assemblage enjoy under our laws.

He bases his objections to movie censorship on two main issues. He believes it intrinsically wrong and unconstitutional, and he further believes that it fails to accomplish its purpose. Censorship does not insure clean films, Hays says in the “Review of Reviews.” INDIVIDUAL PREJUDICES Instead it makes it possible for censoring groups to indulge purely individual prejudices without regard to the likes and dislikes of the general public. The films should be clean, he believes. The majority of the producers themselves are eager to see film standards raised. But the best censors are the public, who place an unmistakable stamp of approval on the pictures they like by going to see them and paying money at the box office. “ Without adequate box office returns, the better type of pictures cannot survive. Movies are a commercial proposition, and the efficient way to insure good films is by supporting good films.” Speaking on the influence of moving pictures on children, Mr. Hays has a number of ideas. “Development of character, not censorship, is needed. It is basically false to claim that movies have a deteriorating effect on children. Artificial restraint should be thrown off, and children tauglr: the inner restraints that fortify against evil. The child should be prepared for the path, not the path for the child. “It is not fair to demand that all pictures be made primarily for childish minds. WHOLESOME RECREATION “While producers are filling their job of turning out the best pictures they are capable of, the American people will take care of the whole matter of censorship, by aiding the industry in its continuing efforts to give the best and most wholesome recreation available, by patronising the good pictures, and by exercising its right to choose wheat from the chaff.”