Joe Breen, The Ayatollah Khomeni, and Film Censorship

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Notes

1. Variety, May 9, 1979, p. 2.

2. A. Devictor, “Classic Tools, Original Goals: Cinema and Public Policy in the Islamic Republic of Iran” (1979–97) in R. Tapper (ed.), The New Iranian Cinema: Politics, Representation and Identity (London, 2002), pp. 66–76; H. Naficy, “Iranian Cinema” in Companion Encyclopedia of Middle Eastern and North African Film,” O. Leaman (ed.) (London, 2001), 67–161.

3. A. Devictor, Politique du cinéma Iranien de l’âyatollah Khomeyni au président Khâtami, CNRS Editions, Paris, 2004, 24.

4. For a discussion of the more prominent successes, see A. Farahmand, “Perspectives on Recent (International Acclaim for) Iranian Cinema,” in New Iranian Cinema, 86–108.

5. Naficy, “Veiled Voice and Vision in Iranian Cinema: The Evolution of Takshan Banietemad's Films,” Social Research, 67 (2000), 559.

6. For a good discussion of Iranian censorship, see Devictor, “La censure des moers dans le cinéma de la Republique islamique d’Iran,” in M. Kerrou (ed.), Public et Privé en Islam (Paris, 2002), 293–311.

7. For a good discussion of this system, see Devictor, Politique, 87–100.

8. G. Shurlock, Oral History with Geoffrey Shurlock, Interviewed by J. Wall (Louis B. Mayer/American Film Institute Film History Program, 1970), 210.

9. J. Vizzard, See No Evil. Life inside a Hollywood Censor (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1970), 51.

10. Joe Breen letter to Wilfred Parsons, October 10, 1932, Parsons Papers, Box 3, folder 41. Georgetown University Manuscripts Collection.

11. W. Hays, The Memoirs of Will Hays (New York: Doubleday, 1955), 450.

12. “Clean Scripts or No Cash Says Giannini,” The Hollywood Reporter, July 27, 1934, 3.

13. Vizzard, See No Evil, 48.

14. Ibid., 51. Also see L. Jacobs “Industry, Self-Regulations and the Problem of Textual Determination,” The Velvet Light Trap 23 (1989), 4–15.

15. Ibid., 102.

16. H. Golmakani, “New Times, Same Problems,” Index on Censorship (1992), 19–22. Also see Devictor, “Classic Tools,” 68–70; Faramond, “Perspectives,” 90.

17. Devictor, “Classic Tools,” 70.

18. G. Gardner, The Censorship Papers. Movie Censorship Letters from the Hays Office, 1934 to 1968 (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1987), 45.

19. Vizzard, See No Evil, 81.

20. Ibid., 82.

21. Joe Breen letter to Maurice McKenzie, April 12, 1935, Box 1, folder 3. Georgetown University Manuscripts Collection.

22. Joe Breen letter to Martin Quigley, September 25, 1937, Quigley Papers, Box 1, folder 3. Georgetown University Manuscripts Collection.

23. “Questioning the Mullahs.” Interview by R. Proctor. The Texas Observer, June 7, 2002, 25.

24. Golmakani, “New Times,” Index on Censorship (1992), 19–22.

25. Ibid., 21.

26. There are exceptions, such as Nargess.

27. For a discussion of this, see Devictor, Politique, 101–111.

28. “Questioning the Mullahs,” 25.

29. This film was banned until 1997, when a liberalization occurred with the election of President Khatami.

30.The Hays Office, 241.

31. Ibid., 243.

32. Ibid., 247.

33. “Questioning the Mullahs,” 25.

34. Ibid.

35. John Huston, An Open Book (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1980), 84.

36. The New York Times, November 19, 1944.

37. Ibid, 83.

38. Farahmand, “Perspectives,” 92.

39. L. Wright, “Letter from Damascus Captured on Film. Can dissident filmmakers effect change in Syria?”, New Yorker (May 15, 2006), 68.

40. #1 Citizen Kane (1941), #2 Casablanca (1942), #3 Gone with the Wind (1939), #6 The Wizard of Oz (1939), #8 On the Waterfront (1954), #10 Singin’ in the Rain (1952), #11 It's a Wonderful Life (1946), #12 Sunset Boulevard (1950).