Moonshine and Magnolias: "The Story of Temple Drake" and "The Birth of a Nation"

However, before it was ever shown to a movie audience, the film was a sensation owing to the controversy surrounding its literary origin, William Faulkner's Sanctuary (1931).1 Even in the pre-Code era, the Hayes Office demanded dramatic cuts in the film adaptation of Sanctuary and stipulated that it could not bear the name of Faulkner's (in)famous novel.