Cinema: Moral Breach

Seven states and 50 cities in the U.S. still put up with official movie censors, but their laws permit meddling only with such moral questions as how low can a neckline plunge.* Last spring Maryland's three censors extended their sway from decolletage to dialectics: they banned a 50-minute Polish documentary, On Polish Land (with no English subtitles), because they did "not believe it presents a true picture of present-day Poland." Instead, they ruled, the film "appears to be Communist propaganda."

Against prompt charges of political censorship, the Maryland board argued: "Immorality . . . extends to the entire moral code"; therefore, a...

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