In the 1930s, the Production Code led by Will Hays was formed as a board to certify films that were considered safe for distribution. That meant no overt sexual content, no obscene language, and no themes that could be considered offensive to the public. While it was implemented to be self-regulating for studios to follow, the influence of the Catholic Church in big cities loomed over and wanted to label each film as watchable to millions of followers. They opposed any federal censorship and instead chose to refer to their own rating system, decades before the MPAA was formed, to advertise for public awareness. So, in 1934, Archbishop John T. McNicholas from Cincinnati helped establish The Catholic Legion of Decency.
Soon, it was renamed the National Legion of Decency as other denominations caught on and supported the idea. All readers were told to “remain away from all motion pictures except those which do not offend decency and Christian morality.” The initial rating system was a scale from A to C, with A being morally acceptable, B being acceptable but with objections on certain content, and C being morally unacceptable. Anything with a C, practicing Christians were directed to stay away from. Most films that got hit with a C usually came from abroad as European films were more open on certain subjects, which the Church opposed because there were redeeming features in the story.
The 1930s and 40s were a time for many American independent companies to produce exploitation works on taboo subjects including drug usage, child marriage, white slavery, and venereal diseases. While they were considered educational films and permitted to be released, the Legion of Decency gave the films a C rating because they were still immoral to watch and did not want to give their followers the idea to try them out. Major Hollywood releases were also listed with a C rating, including Howard Hughes’ The Outlaw, Frank Borzage’s Strange Cargo, and Greta Garbo’s final performance on film, Two-Faced Woman. Those films were later rerated B after the studios accommodated changes to Legion’s liking.
Moving into the 1950s, more European films were flooding the market and more Hollywood films were putting in challenging content that tested the Legion. In 1957, Pope Pius XII spoke on the subject of evolving content in movies, stating that people should talk about promoting good films rather than simply condemning those that are morally unacceptable. In turn, the Legion of Decency revised its ratings. While B and C remained, the A rating was split into subcategories. A-I was listed for all audiences, equivalent to today’s G rating. A-II was listed as a film suitable for children but with some mature content, a PG/PG-13 rating today, while A-III was listed to be a film just for adults. Later, the A-IV rating was added for adults but content that stretched the boundaries of being morally acceptable.
Even with the expansion of these ratings in accommodating the growing diversity in content in movies, the Legion, along with the Hays Code, was becoming obsolete. More people, even those who described themselves as Catholics or with another denomination, were still heading to see films labeled as morally offensive. Even though the Legion’s reviewers would see a film multiple times, their reasons for giving a certain rating would see its critics call them out for being too conservative, or even too liberal in contradicting what they consider as being immoral. A schism was forming between traditionalists and moderates, as well as people outside of the Church who accepted secular values in mainstream cinema. By 1965, when the Second Vatican Council liberalized certain matters of the Catholic Church, the Legion lost all influence.
Restructured as the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures, they would remain irrelevant as the scene shifted to the MPAA system that allowed almost everything to be displayed. In 1978, the old B and C rating would merge to become the current O rating (for morally offensive) and A-IV would be relabeled L for a limited adult audience in which its content is not immoral, but could be considered troublesome to certain viewers. In 1980, the Legion and its rebrand folded and its archives were picked up by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Office for Film and Broadcasting. Today, the rating system is still in effect, provided by the Catholic News Service which recently announced that they will cease operations at the end of this year.
This means that at the end of this year, there will be no successor to continue the National Legion of Decency’s own rating system unless one is created. The relics of it have almost been long forgotten to the past of film history and censorship with the Hays Code. For those who never knew, as many fear the line separating church and state is eroding today, there was a time when the church did play an influential role in advising its members on what to see or not. They forced the studios to make adjustments that gave them their blessing for church members to watch their pictures. Imagine if the church had this kind of influence today on Hollywood studios? LGBT themes would be cut, any movie deemed celebrating drugs would be a no-go, and violence that is grotesquely graphic with no reason would be seen as poison to those watching it. But the era of decency, as it was thought of 90 years ago, is long dead.
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