"DESIRES" AND THE CENSORS

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

A wise decision by the state censers to ban the movie Desires on Sundays reveals the consistency of their policies, which we have often had the pleasure of seeing put into action. The movie begins at the presentation of a morality play at Salzburg. But soon the protagonists, a ballerina who is a helpless dope addict, a city health official who is a pillar of righteousness, and happy family owing a pharmacy, are entangled in the problem of good and evil. Through a series of decisions the latter characters conquer the evil which grips the ballerina and involves, by extension, all mankind. Their morality is practical and successful. It is eminently Christian. . .

The intention of the ctnsors is clear. Any practical example of Christianity artfully conceived must be forbidden on Sunday, a day already perverted by the influence of religion . . . Now, I should like publicly to correct the malicious gossip that the censers are attempting one of the following: 1) to drive the restless from wholesome entertainment on a day of boredom in order to encourage desperate amusements; 2) to entice disbelievers into the moviehouses on weekdays by banning harmless moral productions on Sundays; 3) to promote a Christian revival by a mild martyrdom of Christian art . . .; or 4) to annoy moviegoers by being arbitrary and inconsistent.

I should never wish to imply that the censers had never seen Desires or that, having seen it and wishing to provide tame stuff for Sundays, they were as good as blind. Geraid Gillespie '56