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...