Changes

* [[Murder]]s were never to be shown in detail. The operative concerns were twofold: that no person murder another by imitating a murder he saw done on film, and that viewers not be subject to a sick-making spectacle.

* [[Murder]]s were never to be shown in detail. The operative concerns were twofold: that no person murder another by imitating a murder he saw done on film, and that viewers not be subject to a sick-making spectacle.

* Similarly, methods of crime were never to be shown in enough detail as to inspire imitation or, worse yet, to give instruction in crime.

* Similarly, methods of crime were never to be shown in enough detail as to inspire imitation or, worse yet, to give instruction in crime.

* Crime must never "pay." This led, in a number of instances involving adaptations of plots from stage to film, to the requirement that the film end in a manner substantially different from the play. For example, in ''The Bad Seed'' (1956), the child murderess was shown making a desperate search to retrieve the metal-plated shoes she had used to kill her victim, only to die of a [[lightning]] strike.<ref name=BadSeed>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/ The Bad Seed (1956)] at the Internet Movie Database</ref> That scene was not in the original stage script. (And even then, the lightning strike had to be shot at a wide angle.)

* Crime must never "pay." This led, in a number of instances involving adaptations of plots from stage to film, to the requirement that the film end in a manner substantially different from the play. For example, in ''The Bad Seed'' (1956), the child murderess was shown making a desperate search to retrieve the metal-plated shoes she had used to kill her victim, only to die of a [[lightning]] strike.<ref name=BadSeed>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048977/ ''The Bad Seed'' (1956)] at the Internet Movie Database</ref> That scene was not in the original stage script. (Furthermore, the director shot the lightning strike at a wide angle, so that in effect, nature--or [[God]]--struck the fatal blow at a distance.)

* Intimate interactions not necessary to the plot were not to be shown on camera--and no actor or actress was to appear on camera without a minimum amount of clothing.

* Intimate interactions not necessary to the plot were not to be shown on camera--and no actor or actress was to appear on camera without a minimum amount of clothing.

* Profane or obscene language was never to be spoken.

* Profane or obscene language was never to be spoken.

* Vulgar, disgusting subjects had to be handled in a manner not likely to nauseate the audience.

* Vulgar, disgusting subjects had to be handled in a manner not likely to nauseate the audience.

* Intoxicating liquor was not to be drunk unless such drinking was necessary to the plot. This was especially important when [[Prohibition]] was still in force, but was enforced less well afterward.

* Intoxicating liquor was not to be drunk unless such drinking was necessary to the plot. This was especially important when [[Prohibition]] was still in force, but was enforced less well afterward.

* Producers were not to hold any religion up to ridicule, or to cast disrespect on "the just rights, history, and feelings of any nation."

* Producers were not to hold any religion up to ridicule, or to cast disrespect on "the just rights, history, and feelings of any nation." One repeated practical application of this rule was that the face of [[Jesus|Christ]] was never shown in close-up, but only at a wide angle, if at all. Films like ''The Robe'' (1953)<ref name=Robe>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/ ''The Robe'' (1953)] at the Internet Movie Database</ref> and ''Ben-Hur'' (1959)<ref name=BenHur>[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/ ''Ben-Hur''](1959) at the Internet Movie Database</ref> best illustrate this principle.

== Decline of the Code ==

== Decline of the Code ==