Ebook: ‘Banned in the USA’: British films in the United States and their censorship, 1933-1960

Making use of the recently-opened files of the US Production Code Administration, this is a study of the way in which British films were censored in the USA between 1933 and 1960. Film by film, it tells the story of the continuing dialogue between the British film-making industry and the American censors, shows how the Production Code system operated and how the censors viewed moral issues, violence, bad language and matters of "decorum", and highlights natural differences such as American concern over what was perceived as the British preoccupation with lavatories. The book also seeks to dispel myths, depicting chief censor Joseph Breen and his staff as knowledgeable people who sympathized with and admired the British film industry.