Warner Bros. Movie World

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Warner_Brother_Studios_from_ The_Petrified_Forest_film_trailer.jpg

The Hays Code was supposed to be a self-control for Hollywood without governmental and political influence. In fact, what it turned out to be in the hands of Republicans and the catholic church, there now was a quiet dominant way of censoring movies, which most studios disliked a lot.

One of the studios that economically suffered from the code was Warner Bros founded in the early 20 century. The studio of the Polish immigrants Harry (born Hirsz), Albert (born Aaron), Sam (born Szmul) and Jack (born Itzhak) had developed its own style by producing controversial narratives, social problem pictures and realistic gangster movies in times of the Great Depression, reflecting the cracked confidence in authority and the country's social traditions.

But the Hay´s code somewhat impeded the release of the Warner Bros. products in their intended way. Especially the crime and gangster films, including Little Caesar (1930), Public Enemy (1931), and Scarface (1932), paradoxically this distinctive genre was required to be cleaned up, to display social consciousness and to morally teach. The "classical" gangster film was forced to evolve into other genre variations including: "gangster-as-cop" films and "Cain-and-Abel" sagas such as Manhattan Melodrama (1934) and Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)

But not only the Gangster-Genre was highly influenced by the Hays Code. Also the classic "Casablanca" got a lot attention from Breen, cutting out explicit references to the characters Rick and Ilsa having slept together in Paris and to Captain Renault extortion of sexual favors from his supplicants. However, both remained strongly implied in the finished version. Ironically Breen made it also inevitable to create a new ending, which turned out to be one of the most popular scenes of the film: Instead of celebrating adolescence love, it comes to Rick's noble renunciation. Though, Warner Bros. is anything but thankful for the impact of the Hays code.

Of course there are a lot of other examples of studios and movies being "terrorized" by censorship. The Wikipedia-article about the production code says:

The first major instance of censorship under the Production Code involved the 1934 film Tarzan and His Mate, in which brief nude scenes involving a body double for actress Maureen O'Sullivan were edited out of the master negative of the film. Another famous case of enforcement involved the 1943 Western The Outlaw, produced by Howard Hughes. The Outlaw was denied a certificate of approval and kept out of theaters for years, because the film's advertising focused particular attention on Jane Russell's breasts. Hughes eventually persuaded Breen that the breasts did not violate the code and the film could be shown.

Some films produced outside the mainstream studio system during this time did flout the conventions of the code, such as Child Bride (1938), which featured a nude scene involving 12-year-old actress Shirley Mills. Even cartoon sex symbol Betty Boop had to change from being a flapper and began to wear an old-fashioned housewife skirt.