The Moon Is Blue (film)
"The Moon Is Blue" is a 1953 film directed by Otto Preminger, notable for its defiance of the Production Code Administration (PCA) that governed American films at the time. The screenplay, written by F. Hugh Herbert, is adapted from his own Broadway play and centers on the interactions between a young architect, played by David Niven, and a free-spirited woman, portrayed by Maggie McNamara, during a dinner in his apartment. The film is characterized by its dialogue, which includes terms like "pregnant," "seduce," and "virgin," sparking significant controversy and censorship efforts across the United States.
Despite its relatively simple plot, the film gained notoriety, earning approximately four million dollars—an impressive figure for its time. It faced backlash from organizations such as the Legion of Decency and was banned in several states. However, a landmark Supreme Court case in 1955 ultimately ruled that the film was not obscene, allowing it to be shown nationwide. "The Moon Is Blue" remains a significant cultural artifact, reflecting the changing attitudes toward censorship and sexual discourse in American cinema during the 1950s.
The Moon Is Blue (film)
Type of work: Film
Released: 1953
Director: Otto Preminger (1905-1986)
Subject matter: Light comedy about a young woman who marries a man only twenty-four hours after meeting him in New York City
Significance: After failing to receive a production code seal of approval, the producers of this film upset the system by releasing the film anyway
For three decades the Production Code Administration (PCA), often working with the Catholic Legion of Decency, controlled what American filmgoers could see. Before 1953 no U.S. film company belonging to the Motion Picture Production Association had ever released a movie without its formal seal of approval. Even Jane Russell’s sensational film The Outlaw (1946) had won PCA approval (though in a revised edition). In 1953 Otto Preminger and United Artists defied the PCA by releasing The Moon Is Blue without its approval. The film’s resulting notoriety helped it to earn four million dollars—a large sum at the time.
Scripted by the play’s original author, F. Hugh Herbert, The Moon Is Blue was one of many 1950’s Broadway plays to be adapted for the screen. It tells the story of a young architect (David Niven) and free-spirited young woman (Maggie McNamara) who meet and engage in a racy and witty conversation over dinner at the man’s apartment. Little else happens in the film. Film reviewer Bosley Crowther, who saw the controversial film in a packed theater, told his readers that “the pit didn’t yawn or the heavens fall.” In fact, he found The Moon Is Blue slow and talky. That talk, however, was exactly what judges, censors, and clerics disliked: Laced with such taboo words as “pregnant,” “seduce,” and “virgin,” the script provoked censorship efforts throughout the United States. The Legion of Decency condemned it, and Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York urged the faithful to boycott it. Maryland, Ohio, and Kansas, in addition to countless local jurisdictions, banned the film. In 1955 a censorship case originating in Kansas reached the U.S. Supreme Court; in Holmby Productions, Inc. v. Vaughan the court struck down the ruling of a local censor board that The Moon Is Blue was “obscene, indecent, and immoral,” thereby permitting the film to be shown in theaters nationwide.