Plot

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and later in the movie Peter Fonda narrate the story about the censorship, exploitation and sex in Hollywood movies from the 1930s and the Hays' Motion Picture Production Code to the present day era.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and later in the movie Peter Fonda narrate the story about the censorship, exploitation and sex in Hollywood movies from the 1930s and the Hays' Motion Picture Production Code to the present day era. This documentary focuses, sometimes just for a minute and sometimes for much longer, on the censorship issues with Party Girl (1930), Baby Face (1933), I'm No Angel (1933), Polly Tix in Washington (1933), Betty Boop, The Dentist (1932), King Kong (1933), Love Life of a Gorilla (1937), Sex Madness (1938), The Gang's All Here (1943), The Outlaw (1943), The French Line (1954), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Bus Stop (1956), How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955), Sheree North's Harem Dance (1953), which is an example of the so-called "cheesecake films" that were popular during that era, High School Confidential! (1958), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), Promises..... Promises! (1963), Baby Doll (1956), Blood Feast (1963), Peeping Tom (1960), Easy Rider (1969), Reefer Madness (1936), The Pace That Kills (1935) (aka The Cocaine Fiends), documentary Woodstock (1970), Taxi Driver (1976), Carnal Knowledge (1971), Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), and Roger Corman gets an honorable mention. The film features clips from these movies, including the never before seen uncensored or cut scenes, as well as short interviews with the people who worked on them or were in some other way involved with the movie industry at the time. The movie ends with the video montage for the uncredited humorous new wave song "Call the Censor".

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Peter Fonda host an examination of the history of decency standards for movies, starting in 1922 with the hiring of Will Hays. When studios ignored the code early in the Depression, Catholics established the Legion of Decency, Hays hired Joseph Breen, and the code got muscle, with an impact on films as diverse as "King Kong" and "The Little Princess." Jane Russell and others discuss the code, cleavage, and the bullet bra in the 1950s. Baker and Wallach comment on the "Baby Doll" controversy. In the late 1960s comes a new classification system. Scorsese discusses it's application to "Taxi Driver." A look at "Carnal Knowledge" follows.—<jhailey@hotmail.com>