In 1907, Chicago became the first city in the country to adopt a motion picture censorship ordinance. The law required that any film screened in a commercial theater within the city limits first secure a permit from the chief of police. The police commissioner or his appointees could deny permits to movies that contained obscenity, endangered public order or that disparaged particular ethnic, racial or religious groups. They could also issue pink "adult only" permits for films deemed unfit for children. Over the course of its eight decade-long existence, Chicago's film censor board banned hundreds of films and ordered cuts of particular scenes or dialogue as a condition for receiving a permit to thousands more. This series will screen a number of films banned in Chicago -- "Birth of A Nation," "Scarface", "Fight For Life", Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope"-- followed by a discussion led by a member of Urban and Suburban Studies faculty.