A Stranger Knocks

This Danish film was not allowed into the United States until a 14-second scene, deemed to be "pornographic," was removed. The cut film was shown at the San Francisco Film Festival, but when it came to New York for a theater run, the New York Censorship Board demanded two additional scene cuts because they depicted an act of sexual intercourse, albeit without any explicit nudity. Trans-Lux, the theater operator, argued that there was no actual obscenity, and that the narrative of the film was wholly dependent on the scenes to be cut, as a major plot reveal occurs during the intimacy. Trans-Lux appealed and was denied, then appealed to the New York State courts. The case eventually landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled, in 1965, that films need not be licensed, effectively ending the New York censorship board's reign, marking a watershed moment in artistic freedom in the U.S.