Murray Schumach wrote the article "The Struggle Over Double Indemnity" to describe what he thought was a ridiculus attitude of censors towards movies in the '30's. The article is about the struggle between Metro (boss of Metro studio) and Breen (a censor ) over a movie called Double Indeminity. The idea for making the movie appeared in 1935, but Breen rejected it because he thought it violated the movie Production Code. The movie was about a married woman and her lover who decide to murder her husband. They murder him, but then the lover falls in love with the widow's stepdaughter. He then confesses the murder in order to save the girl's sweetheart from being blamed for it.
Breen rejected the movie and told Mayer that the movie showed details of crime and adultery. Breen said he rejected the movie because it depicted the planning of the murder and it's "effective" outcome.
In 1943 Paramount sent another version of the movie to Breen. The new version differed in that the lover ends up killing the widow. He is mortally wounded in the act and confesses his crime before dying.
Breen accepted the new version of the movie. Schumack thinks his change in policy was because by 1943 crime and adultery had become more common and accepted in the movies. He is displeased at how the movie made such a big deal in 1935, when eight years it was accepted with ease.
