censorship, (11)

n8 Blackout

when the book was published, the same year the MPPDA established the PCA and Joseph Breen began enforcing industry self-regulated censorship. In fact, The Postman Always Rings Twice was alarming censors even before the PCA was officially established in July 1934. The PCA would be formed (and the National Catholic Legion of Decency threatened box-office boy-cotts) in response to violent screen crime, gangster films, and sexually ex-plicit materiał. Already, by February 1934, however, the New York Times Book Reviewcalled Cain’s novel “strong mens meat and not for those who mind blood and raw lust. It has vigor and economy of method ... but its artistic merit won’t keep it from giving the sensitive nightmares.”⁶⁴ Cain’s story was hot. Although MPPDA president Will Hays and Breen immediately discour-aged RKO, Warner Bros., and Columbia from adapting it, MGM purchased the screen rights for $25,000 in March—without consulting Hays or Breen. In a March 9, 1934, MPPDA Production Codę memo Breen noted his “shock” on learning about the purchase and stated he was not responsible.⁶⁵

The story.was banned.⁶⁶ March 22,1934, correspondence between Hays and counsel Gabriel Hess reveals an eight-page indictment, “Exhibit A,” to support the rejection, listing restrictions and “objectionable features,” call-ing Cain’s story “salacious in essence” and a “deception to the public,” and concluding it would be “impóssible to make a picture of the book at all. ”⁶⁷ Apparently, The Postman Always Rings Twice would pose a big problem vis-il-vis Production Codę enforcement. By March 30,1934, P. S. Har-rison (publisher of the industry trade Harrison’s Reportś) wrote to Louis B. Mayer on behalf of independent theater owners to “protest” MGM’s “deci-sion to produce” Cain’s novel.⁶⁸ By April 2 the Hays Office referred to The Postman Always Rings Twice as a" “particularly dangerous story.” Hays ques-tioned whether it could be madę at all on April 4. On April 21,1934, Breen spoke to Hays at length regarding MGM’s script property—and Metro de-cided to abandon the project. The Postman Always Rings Twice was dropped.

Within a few months, by summer 1934, Breen and the newly formed PCA would consistently enforce the Production Codę. Cain’s hard-boiled novel was such a scandalous sensation that after drawing controversy prior to the PCA’s inception, it faced scrutiny after Hays censored—and MGM canceled—its production. For good measure, on September 4,1934, Hays sent a letter to Breen initiating the PCA policy of forwarding Codę rejection of The Postman Always Rings Twice to other studios. Banning the property industry-wide, it outlined how the industry MPPDA board of direc-tors went through the formal process of officially rejecting a story when “one member-company” of its studio organization attempted to produce

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Censorship and the “Red Meat” Crime Cycle

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ąuestionable materiał. In this case the industry board firmly enforced the Production Codę.⁶⁹

Ten years later Paramount released Double Indemnity.

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Hollywood was not the only party interested in James M. Cain. Others adapted Cain overseas during wartime. In what would become a seminal adaptation for Italian neorealism, French director Jean Renoir gave Italian director Luchino Visconte a copy of Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice. Visconte filmed Ossessione in r942—another controversial and banned Cain adaptation not seen for many years after it was pulled from release. In Hollywood the next year, as a preemptive strike, Breen reiterated in March the ban on Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and warned Paramount’s censorship department against purchasing it. However, PCA records sug-gest that Paramount was considering the property. On March 15,1943, Breen sent two letters to Paramount: (r) an exact copy of an October 10,1935, let-ter to MGM (and other studios) banning Double Indemnity and (2) a letter restating the rejection of The Postman Always Rings Twice by ąuoting pas-sages from a March 1934 letter banning MGM’s purchase of the story.⁷⁰ (Breen later approved Paramount’s production of Double Indemnity on September 24,1943.)⁷¹ By April 1944 (as Double Indemnity wa's being pre-viewed) Paramount’s censorship department denied any interest in Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice.⁷² Nonetheless, whether industry fact or rumor, in August 1944 (as Double Indemnity was being released in Los Angeles) Hedda Hopper of the Los Angeles Times reported Paramount and director Billy Wilder were negotiating for the rights to The Postman Always Rings Twice: “Billy Wilder who ain’t afraid of nothin is deep in the throes of trying to buy James Cain’s Postman from Metro. If he gets it—and he will—Barbara Stanwyck says she’11 make it with him. You can look for lots of Wilder-Stanwyck pictures sińce Double Indemnity. They rang the beli and I don’t mean the postmans.”⁷³ By October 1944, however, it was MGM pro-ducer Carey Wilson (better known for his Andy Hardy movies) who sub-mitted a treatment to the PCA and negotiated a deal with Breen to produce Cain’s story—the success of Double Indemnity was indeed a Codę prece-dent. Interest in Cain’s meaty properties had ignited. Wilson worked with writers Harry Ruskin and Niven Busch to adapt the screenplay. MGM and the PCA exchanged numerous letters and script revisions through May 1945, when Breen finally approved changes and production began.⁷⁴ PCA en-dorsement of The Postman Always Rings Twice was a milestone. The film’s scorching beach scenes, previewed in Life, had “driven director Tay Garnett