Foy Productions Ltd. v. Graves

• Decision Date: 17 May 1938
• Citation: 278 N.Y. 498,15 N.E.2d 435
• Parties: In the Matter of FOY PRODUCTIONS Limited and another, appellants, v. Frank P. GRAVES, respondent.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

278 N.Y. 498

15 N.E.2d 435

In the Matter of FOY PRODUCTIONS Limited and another, appellants,

v.Frank P. GRAVES, respondent.

Court of Appeals of New York.

May 17, 1938.

Appeal from Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Third Department, 253 App.Div. 475, 3 N.Y.S.2d 573.

Proceeding in the matter of the application of Foy Productions Limited and another for an order pursuant to article 78, section 1283 et seq., of the Civil Practice Act, as added by Laws 1937, c. 526, against Frank P. Graves, as Commissioner of Education of the State of New York, annulling the determination of the Commissioner in refusing to license the motion picture ‘Tomorrow's Children,’ and directing that a license for it forthwith issue. The motion picture ‘Tomorow's Children’ and its speaking parts were reviewed and rejected successively between May 5, 1934 and August 20, 1937, by the reviewers of the picture division of the Department of Education, by the director of the division, and again by the reviewers upon a revision of the picture and finally by the Commissioner of Education of the state. The grounds of rejection and of refusal were that the picture was ‘immoral,’ ‘will tend to corrupt morals,’ and ‘will tend to incite crime.’

The picture portrays a Catholic priest preaching a sermon against sterilization, a group of welfare club women being orally instructed in the theory and its consequences, young doctors in a hospital discussing its efficacy. Then is represented a drunkard and his poverty stricken, feebleminded family, with its sick, crippled, and criminal members, and a normal, attractive foster daughter. The welfare workers are shown later as inducing the father and mother to submit themselves and their children to sterilization in exchange for ‘held,’ including the normal foster child. In the depiction of the foster daughter, the young woman refuses to submit, escapes, is pursued, imprisoned and is brought before the court, sentenced to submit to the operation, is seen on the operating table, prepared for the surgeon's knife, and finally is being released on the sudden discovery that she is not a natural child of the family, and, therefore, there was no law permitting the mutilation of her body against her will. Other scenes in the hospital are displayed with sterilization operations in progress. The judge exercising this extraordinary power over the persons of others and passing sentences is exhibited as corrupt and venal, the courtroom is occupied...