More Mores

AFTER nearly 40 years of heated discussion, the motion picture industry has devised what it considers a sane system of limited movie censorship. Beginning November 1, seven people (including a female child psychologist) will give one of four ratings to every movie released in this country: "G" (suitable for general audiences), "M" (mature audiences), "R" (restricted--persons under 16 admitted only with parent or guardan), or "X" (persons under 16 not admitted). Most theatre owners are expected to enforce the ratings at the box office.

Does this mean anything? For one thing, guardianless orphans under 16 have been kicked in the pants by the "R" classification. The ratings don't help the Catholic Church much either. Every time the going was dull in the drama pages of the Times, the Catholics' own board of censors could go and announce a "C" (condemned for everybody) rating for some movie like Blow-Up or Rosemary's Baby. Those days may have passed forever.

The new rating system does present one major question: Will the film moguls tamper with the artistic integrity of their product to avoid a classification that will shut out the under-16 market? Next year will tell. At least the producer will have the option of appealing to a board headed by Motion Picture Association president Jack Valenti. Mr. Valenti's credentials for making moral judgements aren't bad; he left the Johnson Administration two and a half years ago.