Fred Stanley reported from Hollywood on the wave of criticism being leveled against the motion picture industry for "alleged bad taste in the subject-matter and advertising of some recently released films." The advent of what would come to be known as film noir had a lot of cultural conservatives up in arms, but the number one target was Howard Hughes movie "The Outlaw," previously suppressed but now reemerging in showings in Los Angeles. The 71-year-old Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, John J. Cantwell, led the charge in a message to the diocese. The movie was denounced from the pulpit of most of the city's Catholic churches. It already had been condemned by the Catholic National Legion of Decency and refused a seal of approval by the Production Code Administration. It had passed on appeal, after some modifications, with the board of directors of the Motion Picture Association in New York. The LA showing of "The Outlaw" had an intense radio, billboard and newspaper campaign playing up the voluptuousness of Jane Russell. The print campaign was particularly daring in "respect to its feminine anatomical illustrations and the flippancy of its text." Hughes was threatened with expulsion from the MPA for violating its advertising code.
Joseph Ignatius Breen, administrator of the industry's Production Code, held a series of conferences attended by major company executives, producers, directors and writers, in which he admonished them for "continually violating the spirit of the purity code, although technically observing it." He warned them they were inviting censorship from outside groups. The tide, however was turning, and the Catholic church would gradually lose its power to veto Hollywood productions.
On the other side of the political spectrum, the Hollywood Writers Mobilization criticized Hollywood studios for substituting slickness and glamor for honesty. Too many escapist films, they claimed, were not "deeply rooted in the common culture and experiences of the people" the way the better European films were. This was a Popular Front group, in which doctrinaire Communists, including the Hollywood Ten, played a prominent role, although not all participants were Communists. The organization initially had been founded to unite the left in Hollywood in support of the war effort, an abrupt about face from the Stalinist left's anti-war position before Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, itself another flip from their militant anti-Fascism before the Stalin-Hitler pact. After the war the members lobbied for more serious, adult subject matter in movies. In partnership with the University of California the group published the journal Hollywood Quarterly.
The film version of Broadway's longest-running hit, "Life With Father," had begun shooting. Playwrights Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse were in Hollywood for the production as "editorial supervisors" and complaining of the early start to the working day (9 AM) and the hours spent sitting around waiting for something to happen. They would be in town for about three months as the film shot, waiting to be called by director Michael Curtiz for advice on dialogue and other matters. They assured Times readers that they had not "gone Hollywood" and viewed "exposure to the sun and exercise with alarm." When they got back to New York,"Life With Mother" might be ready for the boards. They expected to return to Hollywood in early 1947 when their newest Broadway hit,"State of the Union," was scheduled to start shooting.