Citation: Stephen, Vaughn. "Morality and Entertainment: The Origins of the Motion Picture Production Code." The Journal of American History 77 (1990): 39-65.

This article explains why the MPPC was adopted. It illustrates the illicit behaviors of those in Hollywood and why the heads in Tinsil Town felt the need to put their feet down on free expresssion in film. Actors such as Fatty Arbuckle were involved in controversies that were thought to have a significant impact on movie audiences. This morally reprehensible behavior potrayed both on and off screen supposedly caused the corruption of Americans. Therefore, William Hayes decided that there needed to be regulation of Hollywood to prevent any further contamination of yourh in America.

 

The introduction of the Hays Code directly affected the production of The Outlaw. Howard Hughes fought throughout the production of this film to keep certain scenes that were deemed inappropriate by the production code. In particular scene in question was where Jane Russell wears a dress that reveals too much of her bustline. Per the code, this scene needed to be cut out if the movie was to receive the seal of approval from the MPAA. However, Hughes fought to keep the scene in the movie and eventually came to an agreement about how much of Jane Russell's breast would be shown.

Celluloid Jukebox, edited by Jonathan Romney and Adrian Wootton, is a collection of essays from famous filmmakers and musicians all regarding the relationship of popular music and film since the 1950’s.  In this book, many essays make stark remarks on the influence of A Hard Day’s Night in the connection between pop music and film.  Andy Medhurst’s essay, for example, entitled “It Sort of Happened Here: The Strange, Brief Life of the British Pop Film”, on numerous occasions makes the claim that “the film which irrevocably sundered that connection [between pop music and film] was A Hard Day’s Night,” and that “the kind of static on-stage set-piece that was one of the many causalities of the new approach [was] pioneered by A Hard Day’s Night.”  The section of the book, however, that is most supportive of my thesis is the final section of interviews, which asked a number of famous filmmakers what their favorite pop movies are.  In response to this question, Cameron Crowe, Amos Poe, and Allison Anders all claimed A Hard Day’s Night.
Allison Anders, a producer of many notable films such as Martin Scorsese’s Grace of the Heart, is quoted as saying, “the very first intoxicated experience of music and movies working together, needless to say, [was] A Hard Day’s Night.”  She then went on to say, “when I went to see the movie, I didn’t see the movie itself until I saw it for maybe the tenth time because we were screaming through the whole thing.  So it was like seeing a concert with all the little girls.”  This quote supports my thesis that A Hard Day’s Night was the first film to successfully unite the pop cultures of film and music in a way that no film previously had, and that it in fact is the first true rock and roll film.  Anders’ response to the film, like so many others’, was because of the novelty of the style of this production.  A Hard Day’s Night really was like watching a concert for an hour and a half on the silver-screen, and therefore was indeed a rock and roll film.  It was different than any other films that came before it, and it forever changed the way music and film interacted.  This book, Celluloid Jukebox, gives a great inside understanding of A Hard Day’s Night’s influence on music’s role in film.  It speaks of all the films to the present that have used pop music in a similar fashion to the 1964 Beatles’ comedy, and therefore is a great source for my thesis.