r/silentfilm

I've been reading the actual Production Code text, and a lot of the "rules" people assume were there weren't, while some of the real ones were stranger than I expected.

A few that stood out:

- "Damn" and "hell" were banned outright until a late-1939 amendment allowed them in rare cases, just in time for Rhett Butler's last line in Gone with the Wind.
- Affairs weren't banned. What was banned was making them look justified or appealing, which is partly why so many classic romances end in sacrifice.
- Crime could appear on screen, but not the method. A step-by-step safe-cracking scene was a problem; cutting from the gang going in to the alarm bell was fine.
- Drug stories were completely off-limits until Otto Preminger released The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) without a seal, and the Code changed the next year.

Which Code rule do you think shaped classic Hollywood the most? Or is there a film you love that only makes sense once you know what the censors forced on it?

(Disclosure: I run a small film history blog and turned these rules into a quiz where you "submit" a 1934 script and get a verdict. Happy to drop the link in the comments if anyone wants to try it.)

Are You A Fan?

My Silent Film Blu-Ray collection

The Hays Code rule that surprised me most: Hitchcock beat the kissing limit in Notorious by breaking one long kiss into lots of short ones

In July 2015, someone broke into F.W. Murnau's grave and stole his skull. Wax residue was found at the scene, suggesting that candles were lit as part of an occult ritual. The identity of the thief/thieves remains a mystery and the skull has never been recovered.