Jan. 25, 1962 - The New York Board of Regents today upheld the refusal of the motion picture division of the State Department of Education to license the picture “The Connection” on the ground of obscenity. Pictured below is a still from the film. The decision set the stage for a constitutional challenge of the department’s power to censor films. A motion picture cannot be shown for public viewing in any theatre in the state without a license. “The Connection” is an adaptation of the off-Broadway play of the same name, which deals with the use of narcotics. The producer and owner of the film, the Connection Company, agreed to cut out a scene showing a magazine photograph of a nude woman. However, they refused to delete a word that the motion picture division held obscene. Ephraim S. London, lawyer for the petitioners, said an appeal would be filed in a day or two in the Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court. He said he was prepared to carry the test to the U.S. Supreme Court. The picture has not been shown in the U.S., but Mr. London said European critics had hailed it as an artistic achievement.
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