BackHollywood's Censor - Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration
(book in English)
- Type
- Studies
- Subject
- Studio > Hollywood
- Hays code, censorship, Hollywood, morality
- Publishing Date
- 2009
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press
- Collection
- (no collection)
- Language
- English
Relative size
- Physical desc.
- Paperback • 440 pages
5 ¼ x 8 ½ inches (13.5 x 21.5 cm) - ISBN
- 978-0-231-14359-2
- User Ratings
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Book Presentation:
From 1934 to 1954 Joseph I. Breen, a media-savvy Victorian Irishman, reigned over the Production Code Administration, the Hollywood office tasked with censoring the American screen. Though little known outside the ranks of the studio system, this former journalist and public relations agent was one of the most powerful men in the motion picture industry. As enforcer of the puritanical Production Code, Breen dictated “final cut” over more movies than anyone in the history of American cinema. His editorial decisions profoundly influenced the images and values projected by Hollywood during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War.
Cultural historian Thomas Doherty tells the absorbing story of Breen’s ascent to power and the widespread effects of his reign. Breen vetted story lines, blue-penciled dialogue, and excised footage (a process that came to be known as “Breening”) to fit the demands of his strict moral framework. Empowered by industry insiders and millions of like-minded Catholics who supported his missionary zeal, Breen strove to protect innocent souls from the temptations beckoning from the motion picture screen.
There were few elements of cinematic production beyond Breen’s reach—he oversaw the editing of A-list feature films, low-budget B movies, short subjects, previews of coming attractions, and even cartoons. Populated by a colorful cast of characters, including Catholic priests, Jewish moguls, visionary auteurs, hardnosed journalists, and bluenose agitators, Doherty’s insightful, behind-the-scenes portrait brings a tumultuous era—and an individual both feared and admired—to vivid life.
See the publisher website: Columbia University Press
> From the same author:
Pre-Code Hollywood (1999)
Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema, 1930-1934
by Thomas Doherty
(in English)
> On a related topic:
Censoring Hollywood (2011)
Sex and Violence in Film and on the Cutting Room Floor
by Aubrey Malone
(in English)
Hollywood face à la censure (2005)
Discipline industrielle et innovation cinématographique 1915-2004
Forbidden Hollywood (2019)
The Pre-Code Era (1930-1934): When Sin Ruled the Movies
by Mark A. Vieira
(in English)
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