Pruning the Movies is a silent satire on censorship from 1915

Pruning the Movies (1915) is an early satire on censorship starring Eddie Lyons, Lee Moran, Carmen de Phillipi, and produced by Al Christie. A board of censors screens films in a projection room and cuts out all offensive material. The censors, who are flabbergasted by the obscenities before their eyes, turn knives into flowers, cocaine into castor oil, and replace a kissing scene with a literal feast of prunes. — Read the rest