Fantasm

Dir Richard Franklin / 1976 / Australia

This Aussie sex comedy ran into trouble with the censorship board in July 1976. It was banned for reasons of 'indecency' in a print running 2350.00mtr (85m 54s). The same month saw a 2212.40mtr (80m 52s) Reconstructed Version passed with an R18+. 

The Video Classics VHS from the early 80's is presumably taken from this censored print. It was released again in 1990 on the Movie Greats label with a running time of 77m 43s.

July 1984 saw the film passed twice with X18+ ratings. The reason given was:
Sex
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous

The applicants for this 87m VHS were FG Film Productions, and Video Classics. It needs to be confirmed if either of these companies released this version. On the 2004 DVD commentary the Producer Antony I. Ginnane claims that the uncut version has never been released on tape.

It was passed once more in March 2004 with an R18+ (Medium Level Sex Scenes, Some Sexual Violence) in a 79m (v) version. This was for the Umbrella Entertainment DVD release where it is double-billed with its sequel FANTASM COMES AGAIN, which was also censored in the 70's.

The actual running time of the Umbrella release is 86m 53s. This is a highly recommended DVD as it contains uncut versions of both films. It also has a featurette titled FANTASM PENETRATED, and a commentary track with Producer Antony I. Ginnane in which the censorship problems are discussed.

Many thanks to Manny for sending in this transcription of some of the relevant parts.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM PENETRATED Featurette
in those days the film censorship authorities were extremely draconian. They thought they were god. They didn't like the R-rating, it was imposed on them, so they did everything they could to sabotage it. They simply didn't like sex, and once you got past a certain level of nudity, or a certain level of simulated sex, bingo, bango, you had to cut it. It was a nasty bunch of self-dealing, megalomaniacal monsters.

Director: Richard Franklin
FANTASM PENETRATED Featurette
I think the film was banned in Queensland because my parents drove me to Tweed Heads [NSW] to see it. My Mother thought it was wonderful, but she always does.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM PENETRATED Featurette
The beauty of it [the Queensland ban] was that it was so much publicity for the rest of Australia, that whatever we lost in Queensland, we certainly mad up for South of the border. 

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM Commentary @ 5min
At the time Australia had a very tight censorship regime as well, and none of the adult movies, the triple X movies, that had become sort of porno-chic in the States, the DEEP THROATS, THE DEVIL IN MISS JONES, and the like, had actually played down in Australia. They were not allowed into the country, but the actors, the principal actors that were in those films were known to Australians, and had a certain sort of controversy about them. So we figured if we could cast FANTASM with what we called the 'Superstars of Triple X', and bring them down to Australia, we'd have a piece of material that would be very controversial to Australian audiences which was what we were primarily aiming for in terms of recruitment.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM Commentary @ 11min
......the Australian release print [of FANTASM] which was trimmed by the Australian censors, and we'll get to that in a minute, by about three, to three and a half minutes, and as you go ahead, there are a couple of sequences that received quite aggressive cuts. The rest of the sequences were just trimmed by a few seconds here or there.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM Commentary @ 17min
The idea was to allow the sexual content to be to a level that would allow it to pass the then availing Australian censorship.
.....but there were still some restrictions, and clearly at that point of time there was no ability to bring anything triple X into a conventional theatrical release.
....we did end up having to cut the film down by two to three minutes.
....[Queensland] banned FANTASM after five days of it running at the Capri Cinema in Brisbane, and to this day it has never had a theatrical release. It ran four and a half days and was pulled.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM Commentary @ 24min
...it was harder than you think for Vince and Richard to shoot in such a ways that we didn't run into censorship problems.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM Commentary @ 49min
Over "FRUIT SALAD" segment with John Holmes and Maria Welton
....this sequence is one of the most cut in any version that have been floating around in the U.S. or elsewhere when we get into the underwater sequence.
.....when they [John Holmes and Maria Welton] got into the pool together that was heavily cut in earlier versions that were around. I think it runs about one to three seconds, where as you see it goes much longer.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM Commentary @ 56:30min
Over "FRUIT SALAD" segment with John Holmes and Maria Welton
....this [Welton pulls Holmes penis to her mouth] was all cut from the version that was previously circulating. 

Note: There is a brief shot of the erect penis of John Holmes, and what looks like an underwater penetration scene during the FRUIT SALAD segment with John Holmes and Maria Welton. Although Antony I. Ginnane does not mention it, I would have thought that the rape of Rene Bond in the NIGHTMARE ALLEY segment at 34min would have been a target of the censors.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM COMES AGAIN Commentary @ 16:30 to 22:30
I'll summarise what Antony I. Ginnane has to say about the existence of hardcore version of FANTASM. What you see on the FANTASM DVD is all the footage that they shot. This was because it was primarily aimed at the Australian market where at the time hardcore was banned. However this did not stop some overseas distributors asking for hardcore footage. 

Fantasm Comes Again  

Dir Colin Eggleston / 1977 / Australia

The original FANTASM has lost five minutes at the hands of the censors, so it was no surprise when this sequel was also banned.

In August 1977 it was Refused Classification in print running 2682.60mtr (98m 03s) for reasons of indecency. A Reconstructed Version was finally passed R18+ in December of the same year. The running time had been reduced to 2614.00mtr (95m 32s).

The Video Classics VHS from the early 80's is presumably taken from this censored print. It was released again in 1990 on the Movie Greats label with a running time of 89m 09s.

August 1984 saw the film passed with an X18+ ratings. The reason given was:
Sex
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous

The applicant for this 99m VHS was FG Film Productions. It needs to be confirmed if this tape was released. On the 2004 DVD commentary the Producer Antony I. Ginnane claims that the uncut version has never been released on tape.

It made its DVD debut in 2004 when Umbrella Entertainment issued it on a double-bill disc with the original film.

The actual running time of the Umbrella release is 98m 31s. This is a highly recommended DVD as it contains uncut versions of both films. It also has a featurette titled FANTASM PENETRATED, and a commentary track with Producer Antony I. Ginnane in which the censorship problems are discussed.

Many thanks to Manny for sending in this transcription of some of the relevant parts.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM PENETRATED Featurette
FANTASM COMES AGAIN was not the success that FANTASM was. There were probably plenty of reasons. Certainly the most overt was that the market had changed substantially in Australia in twelve months. 
You have to remember how censored Australian cinema was prior to the R-certificate. Apart from South Africa, we were the most censored country in the world. A lot of people [at the time of the original film] hadn't seen naked people doing naked things.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM COMES AGAIN Commentary @ 16:30 to 22:30
I'll summarise what Antony I. Ginnane has to say about the existence of hardcore version of FANTASM COMES AGAIN. 

What you see on the FANTASM DVD is all the footage that they shot. This was because it was primarily aimed at the Australian market where at the time hardcore was banned. However this did not stop some overseas distributors asking for hardcore footage. They decided for FANTASM COMES AGAIN to give themselves an option of offering hardcore footage to those who requested it.

For the shoot, none of the actors were employed on the basis of providing hardcore as it would cost too much. However a couple of days after filming ended they shot around nine to ten minutes of hardcore footage in an Los Angeles motel room. This could then be edited back into the film should distributors request it. However it was never used because the couple of distributors who requested it refused to pay the extra post production costs. The hardcore material, with the film can labelled FANTASM '99, was lost when the lab where it was stored went out of business. The material has never been seen since.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM COMES AGAIN Commentary @ 67min
During the Bill Marigold sex scene in THE KISS OF LIFE segment
I don't know what the Australian censors had against underwater ballet, but this was trimmed by about a minute and a half for the Australian release print.

Producer: Antony I. Ginnane
FANTASM COMES AGAIN Commentary @ 78min
We  did not get banned in Queensland as we did with the first. At the federal level the film was cut largely to the same degree as the first one, but the second one did play in Queensland, although it was cut.

Note: Although Antony I. Ginnane does not mention it, I would have thought that the rape in the DOUBLE FEATURE segment at 30min would have been a target of the censors. There is a brief rear shot of Serena's vagina in the TRUE CONFESSIONS segment at 92min. This would have probably been trimmed from the Australian print.

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