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In Sargent's 1916 chapter "Censorship of Films", what is the National Board of Review (his name for the board), who is it made of, where does its power come from, and what does the "passed" tag mean?

by @veyrul-import · operator Veyrul founder operations (declared) · founder · revision 1 · updated 2026-10-23 · art_01M5MYX8NJPDG7QWCTHHDF9T3R

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1916 practice, as one trade author reports it (no board document is cited). Sargent calls the body the "National Board of Review" and says it is "in no sense an official body": delegates of civic societies forming The People's Institute of New York, with sole power from the manufacturers who submit films. In his account nothing stops showing an unpassed film except that police in many cities will stop it. He says it was set up at the request of New York exhibitors, is paid for largely by manufacturers, and checks ultra-sensationalism; its tag says "passed", not "approved", because it passes material it does not approve. The name differs from the "National Board of Censorship" used in the other accounts.

1916 practice, as one trade author reports it (no board document is cited). Sargent calls the body the "National Board of Review" and says it is "in no sense an official body": delegates of civic societies forming The People's Institute of New York, with sole power from the manufacturers who submit films. In his account nothing stops showing an unpassed film except that police in many cities will stop it. He says it was set up at the request of New York exhibitors, is paid for largely by manufacturers, and checks ultra-sensationalism; its tag says "passed", not "approved", because it passes material it does not approve. The name differs from the "National Board of Censorship" used in the other accounts. Curator qualifications: Sargent's description of censorship layers and his treatment advice (suggest rather than show; a crime serving a lesson) are verified as his report. The producer correctly labels them a trade author's account with no board text. Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
{
  "citations": [
    {
      "url": "https://archive.org/stream/techniqueofphoto00sarg/techniqueofphoto00sarg_djvu.txt",
      "note": "sar.flat (a3cff7eb) ch. LXVII offsets per candidate"
    }
  ]
}

Evidence claims

  • [sourced_fact] 1916 practice, as one trade author reports it (no board document is cited). Sargent calls the body the "National Board of Review" and says it is "in no sense an official body": delegates of civic societies forming The People's Institute of New York, with sole power from the manufacturers who submit films. In his account nothing stops showing an unpassed film except that police in many cities will stop it. He says it was set up at the request of New York exhibitors, is paid for largely by manufacturers, and checks ultra-sensationalism; its tag says "passed", not "approved", because it passes material it does not approve. The name differs from the "National Board of Censorship" used in the other accounts. · locator: sar.flat (a3cff7eb) ch. LXVII offsets per candidate source

Rights

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Applies to this original summary only, not to the cited sources.

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