Movie Morality

One of 36 Jesuits who will be ordained in the Roman Catholic priesthood at New York's Fordham University next week is Avery R. Dulles, 37, youngest son of Presbyterian John Foster Dulles, U.S. Secretary of State. In the current issue of the Jesuit weekly America, Convert Dulles turns a well-honed mind to the 22-year-old National Legion of Decency, the Catholic agency for screening and grading movies for their moral content.

The movie ratings published by the Legion of Decency (AI unobjectionable for general patronage; A-II, for adults only; B, objectionable in part; C, condemned) have not, Dulles points out, the force of ecclesiastical law, as does the Index of Forbidden Books. The legion's recommendations are designed merely to help Catholics form their own consciences about what movies to see. But movie-going is "no exception to the general principle that before we perform an act we must assure ourselves that we are not committing sin ... The mere fact that I could probably attend a given picture without falling into sin would not, then, be a sufficient justification for going."

Catholic consciences had best be formed outside the theater, warns Jesuit Dulles, otherwise it may be too late. "It would not be enough to resolve to leave in case you found yourself severely tempted. By that time you would already have incurred a serious danger of interiorly yielding to temptation, and the seeds of future temptation would already be implanted in your soul. Granted the normal tendencies of human nature, it is unlikely that an individual would be strong-minded enough to prevent these evils by leaving the theater as soon as the first signs of danger appeared." Anyone who is certain he will not be tempted by a given picture is morally free to attend it. "But," says Dulles, "there is need of caution here. Most of us tend to exaggerate, rather than underestimate, our own moral strength."

There is another reason, too, why Catholics should follow Legion of Decency listings: to "increase the impact of Catholic opinion on film producers and theaters. In unity there is strength . . . The annual pledge accentuates the social dimension of the legion's purpose."

In recent years some 40% of Hollywood movies have won the Legion's A-I rating, but last year, Dulles wrote, the percentage fell below 30, and B pictures increased. State censorship boards have been greatly weakened by recent Supreme Court decisions the films may not be banned on general charges of immorality or sacrilegiousness. "The Legion of Decency must therefore bear a heavier load in the struggle to maintain propriety . . . It is not enough for Catholics to be on guard against personal mortal sin. They must be alert to the social aspects of motion picture morality."

In Memphis last week California Evangelist Dr. Jack Shuler threw the book at Hollywood ("the best friend the brothel has"). Bible-based movies, he shouted, are "counterfeit Christianity." and movie-colony Christians like Jane Russell have acquired "the dubious ability of juggling a Bible in one hand and a cocktail glass in the other."

Up spoke stalwart Victor Mature, whose musculature has beefed up three of Hollywood's Bible epics (Samson and Delilah, The Robe, Demetrius and the Gladiators). "By pretending to know 'inside hot stuff' on the private lives of some stars, this man Shuler shows himself completely devoid of charity. It's a pretty un-Christian thing to do."

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