North Sea Hijack

[Aclea]

Nice extras - but maybe they should do a special boxed set with needlepoint kits of the poster.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Nice extras - but maybe they should do a special boxed set with needlepoint kits of the poster.

Would have been nice if they had been able to port over the Kino commentary and the first 3000 should have come with a red and white striped bobble hat.

[Aclea]

Or, since the footage they cut to get the rating down from an AA to an A (only to end up being raised to a 15 on video anyway) is presumably lost, a special Where's Wally - sorry, Where's Rufus Excalibur ffolkes? book. And a large tin of KiteKat or Whiskas, with the super deluxe version including a vermilion wetsuit.

[Modman]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Or, since the footage they cut to get the rating down from an AA to an A (nly to end up being raised to a 15 on video anyway) is presumably lost, a special Where's Wally - sorry, Where's Rufus Excalibur ffolkes? book. And a large tin of KiteKat or Whiskas, with the super deluxe version including a vermilion wetsuit.

Or an adorable fluffy kitten plus an abridged version of Ffolkes's big book of chat up lines.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Aclea

Or, since the footage they cut to get the rating down from an AA to an A (only to end up being raised to a 15 on video anyway) is presumably lost...

From the IMDb:

"The original UK cinema version had the sight of one of the hijackers unbuttoning the blouse of a female captive removed for an 'A' rating (the same as today's 'PG' rating). All subsequent video and DVD releases have been uncut and rated '15'."

[Aclea]

Originally Posted by Markgway

From the IMDb:

"The original UK cinema version had the sight of one of the hijackers unbuttoning the blouse of a female captive removed for an 'A' rating (the same as today's 'PG' rating). All subsequent video and DVD releases have been uncut and rated '15'."

When it was still called Esther, Ruth and Jennifer the film was originally intended to have a harder rating (as per Roge and Andrew V. McLaglen's The Wild Geese they were aiming for a double A) but some entire (apparently brief and inconsequential) scenes were removed in post production because the shifts in tone were apparently too jarring and they felt it played better and was more commercial without them. According to McLaglen nothing important was lost, though it was reported at the time (in Starburst magazine IIRC) that the shower scene was originally a bit more explicit and the poisoning more graphic. The 8 seconds of blouse footage was removed from the UK pre-cut 1987 VHS - which still got a 15 - but is on the 2002 DVD and will presumably be on the Blu.

[Markgway]

Originally Posted by Aclea

When it was still called Esther, Ruth and Jennifer the film was originally intended to have a harder rating (as per Roge and Andrew V. McLaglen's The Wild Geese they were aiming for a double A) but some entire (apparently brief and inconsequential) scenes were removed in post production because the shifts in tone were apparently too jarring and they felt it played better and was more commercial without them. According to McLaglen nothing important was lost, though it was reported at the time (in Starburst magazine IIRC) that the shower scene was originally a bit more explicit and the poisoning more graphic. The 8 seconds of blouse footage was removed from the UK pre-cut 1987 VHS - which still got a 15 - but is on the 2002 DVD and will presumably be on the Blu.

Interesting info, thanks.

That pre-cut footage is of the sort we'll sadly never get to see.

Seems odd that such a tame scene as the blouse unbuttoning would elevate this to a '15'. As I recall there's no strong language and the violence is no worse than most PG rated Bond movies of the era.

[Aclea]

Well, that's James Ferman and his idiosyncracies for you. A lot of films had their certificates raised on video - even with the cut this still got a 15 on VHS in 1987 while Valley of Gwangi went from an A to a 12 and Clash of the Titans went from an A to a 15 because he thought they were more 'disturbing' viewed by children in a home context. Universal resubmitted the uncut version for DVD in 2004 (I got the year wrong in my previous post) and were probably expecting a lower rating - Gwangi was reduced to a U when resubmitted post-Ferman in 2003, though Titans was only slightly lowered to a 12 - but my guess is that time it was the poisoning scene that got it the 15 under the 'imitable behaviour' guidelines.