Protecting Protestantism: The Ku Klux Klan vs. The Motion Picture Industry

In the spring of 1923 the Ku Klux Klan launched a series of protests against Charlie Chaplin's The Pilgrim and the Pola Negri film, Bella Donna. This article considers how and why the Klan opposed these films. Drawing on extensive research in Klan newspapers, the article suggests that the Klan sought to promote and define itself through its discourses with the film industry and repositions the Klan as a hugely influential and overlooked social reform group, pressurising the industry during the 1920s.