Banned American Movies in China, 1931

If executives in today’s Hollywood think they’ve got problems getting their pictures released in China I can only offer them this…thus was it ever…In 1931 China took exception to two Hollywood movies – Noah’s Ark and The King of King’s – both were objected to on grounds of promoting religion superstition, Christianity obviously.

Noah’s Ark was a Curtiz/Zanuck production from 1928 with Dolores Costello, Noah Berry and George O’Brien – Zanuck wrote the screenplay and there is a reference at the start to the Bible story but it soon switches oddly to the Orient Express in 1914 France where the train is washed away after a bridge collapses. It then goes on through to America entering WW1. There are parallels to the Bible but it’s essentially contemporary Great War tale. It’s spectacular – three extras were drowned in the filming of the flood scenes (not fortunately one young extra – John Wayne) – and made a healthy profit, except in China!

The King of Kings (1927) is a more straightforward Bible picture – telling the story of Jesus Christ, directed by Cecil B Demille and with HB Warner as Jesus and Dorothy Cumming as Mary. Culver City stands in for the ancient Holy Lands! It’s pretty forgettable, Ayn Rand was an extra, Warner got stressed playing the son of God and took to the bottle (sadly any pictures of the son of God swigging from a gin bottle are lost).