THE MOON IS BLUE (1953)

Watching this movie in 2015, it's hard to understand all the controversy that surrounded it when it was first released in 1953.  A notorious "dirty movie," which the Motion Picture Production Code Office refused to approve and which was banned in Kansas, Ohio, Maryland and Jersey City, New Jersey, the film today seems really tame and silly.  I felt like Hawkeye Pierce in the M*A*S*H  episode "The Moon is Not Blue."   Hearing about the controversy about the notorious "dirty movie," Hawkeye moves heaven and earth to get a copy of it for the 4077 only to be really disappointed.

About as racy at "The Moon is Blue" gets: 

Cynthia (Dawn Addams) dresses to try to get Donald back.  

It's really hard to understand what about this was thought so bad that it was condemned by the Catholic League of Decency and was thought to corrupt the morals of the public.  Nobody has any sex and nobody says any dirty words.  There's no nudity.  And, in the end, the institution of marriage (between one man and one woman, I might add) is upheld.

William Holden, Maggie McNamara and David Niven share dinner and a lot of peppy dialogue.

Based on a very successful Broadway play, also directed by Otto Preminger, the film version of The Moon is Blue starred William Holden, Maggie McNamara and David Niven.  The slight plot involves the infatuation of an architect, Donald Gresham (William Holden) with an aspiring actress, Patty O'Neill (Maggie McNamara).  Gresham "picks up" O'Neill on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and convinces her to join him for dinner and drinks in his apartment.  There is a lot of snappy dialogue involving Patty telling Donald that she's a virgin and asking him if he intends to seduce her.  Inside the apartment building, Donald is being stalked by his former fiance Cynthia.  Donald and Patty are joined for dinner by Cynthia's playboy father, David Slater (David Niven).

Other than a lot of colorful dialogue about sex, pretty much nothing happens.  The most exciting thing that happens is that Patty's father, a hard bitten Irish cop, thinking that his daughter has been seduced by Donald, shows up and gives him a black eye.  The evening comedy of manners comes to an end, Patty meets Donald the next day back at the Empire State Building, Donald asks Patty to marry him and she accepts.  Patty predicts that they will have five children and they live happily ever after.

"The Moon Is Blue" started out as a successful Broadway play by F. Hugh Herbert.

On stage, Patty was played by Barbara Bel Geddes and Donald by Donald Cook.

The controversy surrounding this movie is really incredible.  In fact, there's more sex and naughtiness in most Shakespeare comedies than there is in this movie.  After United Artists released the film "for adults only" without a seal of approval from the Production Code Office, the film faced censorship fights in court which went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States which overruled the Supreme Court of Kansas which had upheld the banning of the film.

The great Otto Preminger

It's interesting to speculate what the censors of the early 1950s would have thought about a really "indecent and obscene" film.  Viewing the film today, William Holden and David Niven were really great actors, and do a good job with this light comedic material.  Maggie McNamara is cute and handles her peppy dialogue very well.  (The dialogue is like a Tarantino movie - it sounds good, but nobody talks like this in real life!).  It's not a great film by any means, but it still hold up as an entertaining light romantic comedy.  Three stars.