Problem of Sex

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1052, 16 August 1930, Page 25

Problem of Sex

CENSORSHIP DIFFICULTY Catering for 250,000,000 Eyes LAST year in Australia 125,000,000 people went to the pictures. In other words, every man, woman and child went on an average of 20 times a year. Five times as many people attended film shows as went to all other forms of amusement combined. “The influence of films on such a huge number of persons will be realised when it is remembered that impressions received through the eye are far greater than those received through any other faculty, particularly as the screen appeals to one’s emotions,” says Mr. W. Cresswell O’Reilly, Commonwealth Film Censor.

In the course of a recent address in Sydney, Mr. O’Reilly said that, in the early days, moving pictures had in them much that was degrading, but gradually they were undergoing a process of evolution —in the words of the poet, they were “working out the beast and letting the ape and the tiger die,” and, aided by the knife of the censor, were developing a conscience and a moral sense. The best picture each year for the past six years, according to a ballot taken by an American magazine, was characterised by cleanness and absence of sex appeal. In addition, it was the experience of the trade that the most decent pictures always made the most money, notwithstanding that occasionally people were seen flocking to a picture because there was something “spicy” about it. INFLUENCE FOR GOOD *

“In view of the character of some pictures.” said Air. O’Reilly, “misguided enthusiasts would ban pictures altogether, but I believe that they can be made a powerful influence for good in the community and in education. The pictures are a wonderful vehicle for imagination and fancy.

“In the theatre we enter a world of make-believe, and the sense of illusion is sometimes more real than the things we actually see outside. We have two examples in ‘Journey’s End’ and ‘Atlantic.’ The first one, shown as a picture, is far more real than it was on the stage, and you ladies can go and have a real downright good cry when you see ‘Atlantic.’ “Pictures, too, help many to forget their drab, and sordid, and monotonous existence.” Mr. O’Reilly spoke of what he termed the “crowd psychology” in picture theatres, and said the cumulative effect of spectators’ impressions was far greater than if the censor saw it in his “dungeon” or read the story in a book, reports the Sydney “Morning Herald.” That was the reason why he sometimes took a “busman’s holiday” and vent to the pictures, so that he could feel the effect of what people were thinking, for it was his business not to regard the picture personally, but as 6,500,000 people in Australia regarded it, at the same time trying to raise the moral standard ever higher and higher. SACRED THINGS

“The problem of censorship is the problem of sex,” continued Mr. O’Reilly. “It is the undesirable emphasis upon sex, its physical manifestations, conjugal unfaithfulness and the eternal triangle which gives us