the U.S. Supreme Court's standard of obscenity. Nonetheless, in Boston the authorities told theaters they could not admit any minors despite the R rating. In Mississippi, the theater chain showing the movie was convicted at trial, but the state's Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1976, finding that the state's obscenity statute was too vague to be enforceable in the wake of the Supreme Court's 1972 ​【50 m】Miller v. California decision which laid down a new standard for obscenity. There was also concern that theaters were not strictly enforcing the R rating, or even enforcing it at all, allowing unaccompanied minors to view the film. Times critic Lawrence Van Gelder reported that a 16-year-old girl in California said that not only was she sold a ticket to see the film unaccompanied, others who seemed even younger were able to do so as well. On the other hand, another Times writer, Judy Lee Klemesrud, said she saw no unaccompanied minors, and indeed very few minors, when she went to see the film in Manhattan. Nevertheless, "I think that if a movie ever deserved an X rating simply because it would keep the kids out of the theater, it is The Exorcist". In 1974, Stern's tenure as chairman of the MPAA ratings board ended. His replacement, Richard Heffner, asked during the interview process about films with controversial ratings, including The Exorcist, said: "How could anything be worse than this? And it got an R?" After he took over as head, he would spearhead efforts to be more aggressive with the X rating, especially over violence in films. Viewing restrictions in United Kingdom The Exorcist was released in London in March 1974. The film drew protests around Britain from the Nationwide Festival of Light (NFL), a Christian public action group concerned with the influence of media on society, and especially on the young. Members of local clergy and concerned citizens handed out leaflets to those queuing to see the film, offering spiritual support afterwards to those who asked for it. A letter-writing campaign to local councils by the NFL led many to screen The Exorcist before permitting it to be shown in their districts. It was thus banned in some areas, such as Dinefwr Borough and Ceredigion in Wales. The Exorcist was available on home video from 1981 in the UK. After the passage of the Video Recordings Act 1984, the film was