UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies

Darwin on the Cutting Room Floor: Evolution, Film Censorship, and the Hays Code

Speaker: David A Kirby, University of Manchester

Abstract: Before 1968, movie censor boards often dictated to filmmakers what scientific subjects they considered immoral or indecent for films. Examining the negotiations between censors, the entertainment industry and filmmakers reveals society's changing ideas about cinema’s and science’s role in influencing morality. In this talk I will utilize new work on the “cultural meanings of film censorship” to examine the historic censorship of evolutionary themes in American fiction films. Many early films, such as A Blind Bargain (1922), ran afoul of local and state censor boards for their inclusion of evolution and Darwinism. Evolutionary themes also fell victim to the notorious “Hays Code” that was administered from 1930-1968 by Hollywood’s official censorship organization –the Production Code Administration (PCA). This talk considers how films, including Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), Island of Lost Souls (1932) and Dr. Renault’s Secret (1942), were modified before production or edited after release to play down their evolutionary themes in accordance with the PCA’s recommendations. I will also examine how the National Legion of Decency censured films, such as I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957), whose evolutionary content they considered contrary to the Catholic Church’s teachings.