BBFC decisions you agree/disagree with...

[CV19]

Originally Posted by RossyG

I think she wanted them banned but never succeeded.

Alas, they’re now sometimes censored, two seem to be outright banned, not for violence but for being un-PC.

The left succeeded where the right failed.

Yes, any scene with a blacked-face is now censored, although some cartoons do seem to have escaped the cuts - at least on the DVD set released a few years ago. I know the one you mean that's banned.....I don't recall the title of the cartoon, but yes it is deemed very un-PC.

Amazing isn't it how a 70+ year old cartoon can be deemed as offensive. I do despair at times.

[Markgway]

ERASER was cut 0:27 for its '18' cert cinema release.

It did fine, but nothing outstanding.

Warners decided it would be a bigger success on VHS with a teenage audience so they requested a '15' from the BBFC, and Ferman - who already didn't like the film's violence - took great pleasure it cutting it to shreds.

I seem to recall him smugly commenting on what he did to the film and how he helped make it a video hit.

Sky showed two versions when it premiered in 1998.

The '15' VHS version and the '18' cinema version.

It wasn't shown uncut -- at least not at that time.

Maybe some years later?

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Markgway

Sky showed two versions when it premiered in 1998.

The '15' VHS version and the '18' cinema version.

It wasn't shown uncut -- at least not at that time.

Maybe some years later?

It would have been around 2004/2005 when I saw it on Sky, and I even recorded the '18' version on a DVD-R, which is the version I now have on a Blu-ray. I don't know if Sky have ever shown the version without the initial BBFC cuts to be fair.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by Markgway

I seem to recall him smugly commenting on what he did to the film and how he helped make it a video hit.

He (Ferman) did come across as a smug character. I remember many moons ago where he was interviewed just before the first time screening on the BBC of a controversial and previously banned film. I wish I could remember the title of that film, but it may have been on the Moviedrome series that used to broadcast on BBC2. He sounded like we should be grateful to him for letting us watch this film.

[Gizz]

I remember the Mel Gibson film Ransom being a 15 at the cinema. Then when it was released on VHS it was given a 18. Still never understood why it now as a 18.

[drush9999]

It was weird that Die Hard 2 while a cut 15, they then subsequently decided to allow the uncut 18 version for widescreen VHS. I remember thinking it seemed more violent than at the cinema.
Then there was the awful dialogue substitutions on Die Hard With a Vengeance.

There was a similar thing with Terminator 2, cut 15 at cinema and home video, but an almost uncut 18 version got put on a T1/T2 combo VHS tape, though Pan & Scan/Open-Matte. I was used to this 18 version for years, until mistakenly buying the 15 rated widescreen Special Edition version and saw the cuts instantly.

Edit: Similar thing with Tango & Cash, cut 15 version at cinema, uncut 18 version on VHS, then the cut 15 version bizarrely reappeared on DVD.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by drush9999

Then there was the awful dialogue substitutions on Die Hard With a Vengeance.

Yes, I remember this one having a '15' certificate on the DVD release when the first two Die Hard's were '18'. The old VHS pan-and-scan releases bizarrely issued the first one as '18' and Die Hard 2 as '15'.

[drush9999]

Originally Posted by CV19

Yes, I remember this one having a '15' certificate on the DVD release when the first two Die Hard's were '18'. The old VHS pan-and-scan releases bizarrely issued the first one as '18' and Die Hard 2 as '15'.

Die Hard 2 was originally a cut 15 version. The widescreen VHS was an uncut 18, while the pan&scan version stayed as the cut version for some bizarre reason.

[CV19]

I recall back in the early days of DVD, Fox released the film Predator (1987) with some controversy. Back then I used to buy a monthly magazine called DVD Review, and many people who bought the disc were saying that there were several scenes missing from it, even though I'm pretty sure the DVD still carried an '18' rating.

One scene that was apparently missing was when Schwarzenegger throws a machete into a guy which pins him to the wall and he says something like "stick around".

I never did buy that first version, as Fox announced they were releasing a 2-disc uncut edition, which is what I ended up buying. Not 100% sure, but I could swear it was mentioned that Commando (1985) was also cut on its first DVD release.

[bigrob]

Originally Posted by CV19

I recall back in the early days of DVD, Fox released the film Predator (1987) with some controversy. Back then I used to buy a monthly magazine called DVD Review, and many people who bought the disc were saying that there were several scenes missing from it, even though I'm pretty sure the DVD still carried an '18' rating.

One scene that was apparently missing was when Schwarzenegger throws a machete into a guy which pins him to the wall and he says something like "stick around".

I never did buy that first version, as Fox announced they were releasing a 2-disc uncut edition, which is what I ended up buying. Not 100% sure, but I could swear it was mentioned that Commando (1985) was also cut on its first DVD release.

regarding Predator, the UK disc used the heavily censored German DVD version. and yeah Commando was cut on DVD over here.

[Agent Kay]

Originally Posted by Gizz

I remember the Mel Gibson film Ransom being a 15 at the cinema. Then when it was released on VHS it was given a 18. Still never understood why it now as a 18.

Originally Posted by drush9999

Die Hard 2 was originally a cut 15 version. The widescreen VHS was an uncut 18, while the pan&scan version stayed as the cut version for some bizarre reason.

The icicle in the eye, you saw it come out the other side in the scope frame.
The T2 pal laser was the uncut 18 version, and the vhs was the cut 15, the t1000 was even more cut for no good reason.

Originally Posted by Gizz

I remember the Mel Gibson film Ransom being a 15 at the cinema. Then when it was released on VHS it was given a 18. Still never understood why it now as a 18.

That was the other one, that and Starship Troopers did the same thing.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by bigrob

regarding Predator, the UK disc used the heavily censored German DVD version. and yeah Commando was cut on DVD over here.

Thanks for that, at least it confirms my old memory cells are still OK.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but having thought about it a bit more I think one of the scenes in Commando that was cut was when Schwarzenegger was on the plane accompanied by a guard, and he breaks his neck. After covering him up with a blanket, he asks the flight attendant not to disturb him because he was "dead tired".

[GaryCouzens]

Originally Posted by CV19

He (Ferman) did come across as a smug character. I remember many moons ago where he was interviewed just before the first time screening on the BBC of a controversial and previously banned film. I wish I could remember the title of that film, but it may have been on the Moviedrome series that used to broadcast on BBC2. He sounded like we should be grateful to him for letting us watch this film.

That might have been The Devils - he did introduce the version as cut by the BBFC (the same version that's on the BFI DVD) as part of BBC2's Forbidden Weekend in 1995. Though in this case it was passed and cut before his time.

Ferman was a complex character (I met him once) and very good at being the public face of the BBFC in a way that John Trevelyan was and the Secretary in between (Stephen Murphy) clearly wasn't. He clearly did know a lot about film history and was a television director before his BBFC job. He could and did stand up to calls for censorship - he wouldn't ban Crash, for example - and he was in favour of liberalising the R18 category to allow unsimulated sex between consenting adults and within the law, something which cost him his job and which has now happened more or less. But he certainly had his hobby horses - nunchukas was one of them, and preventing The Exorcist from being passed for video release was another. Both of those changed after he left the BBFC.

It's a pity that Ferman didn't live to write his memoirs, as Trevelyan did, as they could have made very interesting if no doubt contentious reading. And we do have to remember that there were plenty of people who thought the BBFC under Ferman was far too liberal and should have cut and banned more.

As well as animal cruelty, child protection is a matter of the law and the BBFC is obliged to cut where it is breached, such as the opening scene of Sweet Sweetback referred to above. I saw that film uncut at the NFT with Melvin Van Peebles doing a Q&A afterwards. I have a dim view of him because of that scene and because he also lied about it.

[Blu Lemmy]

This thread simply depresses me.
All the original content we miss out on due to these obsolete rules.

Bah

[bigrob]

Originally Posted by CV19

Thanks for that, at least it confirms my old memory cells are still OK.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but having thought about it a bit more I think one of the scenes in Commando that was cut was when Schwarzenegger was on the plane accompanied by a guard, and he breaks his neck. After covering him up with a blanket, he asks the flight attendant not to disturb him because he was "dead tired".

It was these bits

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=451962

[AndyJWS]

There's a fun (fiction) novel called The Golden Age of Censorship set around the BBFC in 1984 that was written by a former senior censor, and you can sense the "inspiration"

In the early 2000s I wrote to the BBFC and asked about the structure of reissues having different ratings like how there were a number of unrated editions coming to DVD in the US and with the Die Hard 2 widescreen VHS as an example, and got a sniffy reply stating that the BBFC would never allow the same title to have two different ratings even if it was different cuts...

[CV19]

Originally Posted by GaryCouzens

That might have been The Devils - he did introduce the version as cut by the BBFC (the same version that's on the BFI DVD) as part of BB2's Forbidden Weekend in 1995.

Yes, The Devils - that's the one. Thanks for that as I was getting a bit annoyed with myself for not remembering which film it was.

Interesting you mentioning The Exorcist. Some years back, the cinema near where I lived used to show this as a late night screening every Friday as this was the only way you could watch it. After watching it the first time, I could understand why some people may object to it, but I never thought it was so bad that it warranted a video ban.

[GaryCouzens]

Originally Posted by Blu Lemmy

This thread simply depresses me.
All the original content we miss out on due to these obsolete rules.

Bah

We miss out on a lot more that isn't commercially available for other reasons, such as rights not being available or problematic, or simply that someone doesn't think it's commercially viable to distribute it.

[CV19]

Originally Posted by bigrob

It was these bits

https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=451962

Thanks for the link Bigrob. I never bought the Commando DVD, so not sure where I got that idea about the "dead tired" scene being cut.....unless it was cut on a TV screening perhaps.

[GaryCouzens]

Originally Posted by CV19

Yes, The Devils - that's the one. Thanks for that as I was getting a bit annoyed with myself for not remembering which film it was.

Interesting you mentioning The Exorcist. Some years back, the cinema near where I lived used to show this as a late night screening every Friday as this was the only way you could watch it. After watching it the first time, I could understand why some people may object to it, but I never thought it was so bad that it warranted a video ban.

Ferman said that it was particularly and traumatically disturbing for teenage viewers from accounts from around the time the film was first released, and while he had no problems with it being shown in cinemas with a (justified) 18 certificate, there wasn't any guarantee it could be kept away from younger viewers if it was available at home.

It tends to be a film that's more disturbing if you have a strong religious belief - specifically Roman Catholic in this case. I do think it's a great horror film but I guess most teenagers now might find the film a little dated now, particularly as it's paced differently to most modern movies - it's the slow buildup before you hit the audience with the horror.