The film that led to the landmark ruling, Burstyn v Wilson

A bit of background for those of you who may be interested: U.S. government censorship was finally challenged in 1950 by the showing of the Il Miraculo at NYC’s Paris theater. Because it concerned an Italian peasant girl who imagines that a wandering vagrant who seduces her is St. Joseph, Cardinal Francis Spellman condemned it as "vile and harmful." Although even the Vatican had declined to invoke sanctions against the film, the NY board of Regents took it upon itself to rule that the movie was sacrilegious, revoking the theater owner’s license. The owner appealed and won his case. In Burstyn v. Wilson the US Supreme Court placed movies under the protection of the First amendment.