Wallflower/Columbia University Press,
2018 - order at Amazon BN CUP film-censorship.blogspot.com
Film Censorship: Regulating America’s Screen is a concise overview of Hollywood censorship and efforts to
regulate American films. It provides a lean introductory survey of U.S. cinema
censorship from the ‘pre-Code’ years and classic studio system ‘Golden Age’—in
which film censorship thrived—to contemporary Hollywood. From the earliest days
of cinema, movies faced controversy over screen images and threats of
censorship. This essential volume draws extensively on primary research from
motion picture archives to unveil the fascinating behind-the-scenes history of
cinema censorship and explore how Hollywood responded to censorial constraints
on screen content in a changing American cultural and industrial landscape. Read more at Film Censorship blog.
This basic primer on American film
censorship considers the historical evolution of motion picture censorship in
the United States spanning the Mutual vs. Ohio case, Jazz Age Prohibition era,
controversial or banned productions, Motion Picture Producers and Distributors
of America, lobbying by religious groups against Hollywood, ‘Hays Office’
Production Code Administration industry self-censorship, Office of War
Information Bureau of Motion Pictures federal propaganda efforts, challenges to
Production Code censorship, the Miracle decision, easing of regulation in the
1950s-1960s, MPAA ratings system, and the legacy of censorship in later years
vis-à-vis efforts to control film content after the Code’s demise. 
Films include The Outlaw, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Scarface, Double Indemnity,
The Miracle, Scarlet Street, Crossfire, Forever Amber, Act of Violence, Psycho,
The Cheat, Public Enemy, Rebecca, The Roaring Twenties, The Bicycle Thief,
Angels with Dirty Faces, Confessions of a Nazi Spy, The Big Combo, North by
Northwest, Kiss Me Deadly, Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, The
Exorcist, The Interview, and Alfred Hitchcock’s banned Titanic movie.
“Through original
and rich case studies, this volume explores the authorship, power and
organization of censorship in compelling ways. Enormously valuable.” - Ellen Scott, University of California,
Los Angeles 
“This series is tailor-made for a modular approach to film studies...an
indispensable tool for both lecturers and students.” - Professor Paul Willemen, University of
Ulster 
Dr. Sheri Chinen Biesen is Professor of Film History at Rowan
University. She is author of Blackout:
World War II and the Origins of Film Noir (Johns Hopkins University Press,
2005), Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical
Films (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), and Film Censorship: Regulating America’s Screen (Wallflower/ Columbia
University Press, 2018). She received a BA and MA at University of Southern
California School of Cinema-Television, PhD at University of Texas at Austin,
taught at USC, University of California, University of Texas, and in England,
and contributed to the
BBC documentary The Rules of Film Noir
and Turner Classic Movies’ Public Enemies
Warner Bros. Gangster Collection.
