Lea Jacobs addresses this in her book The Wages of
Sin wherein she did a lot of research especially on the
communication between censors and Josef von Sternberg regarding BLONDE
VENUS. This book was an extension of her Cinema
Journal article "The Censorship of
Blonde Venus: Textual
Analysis and Historical Method." (Cinema
Journal 27 Spring 1988) According to Jacobs, "These files,
which have only recently become available for research, contain a
variety of sources that yield distinct kinds of evidence concerning the
evaluation of films and the negotiations between industry censors and
producers" (22) This statement is referenced by an endnote which
states, "The MPPDA Case Files, Special Collections, Herric Library,
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Los Angeles, are organized
by title beginning in 1928 and continuing until the early sixties"
("Censorship" 30 n.6) Jacobs continues by stating that the majority of
files contain correspondence between directors and the MPPDA including
requests for script changes, including statements that outline the
objections censors have to the script and its actions.
Hope this helps.
Lisa :-)
=======================================
"Discipline of mind and body is one of the most difficult things one
has to acquire, but in the long run it is a valuable ingredient of
education and a tremendous bulwark in time of trouble."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
=======================================
Lisa R. Barry
Ph.D. Candidate (ABD)
Graduate Instructor
The Pennsylvania State University
234 Sparks Building
University Park, PA 16802
[log in to unmask]
http://www.personal.psu.edu/lrb7
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Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu