Film Censorship: H

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Hail Mary

Directed by Jean Luc-Goddard / 1985 / France-Switzerland-UK / IMDb

This film has never had problems with the Australian censors. It is included because it was a controversial title

 

In April 1986, a 2935.01-meter print of HAIL MARY was awarded an R-rating. A 105m videotape received the same classification in July 1986. In both cases, Pan American Productions were the applicant.

 

 

Protests from Christian nuts

Although never banned in Australia, this title was the subject of legal action and an intense letter writing campaign by Christians. It went on to play theatrically with an R-rating.

The following are taken from the Censors 1986 Annual Report, and explains how the controversy evolved. We have included links to the original court hearings for the film.

 

The film 'Je Vous Salue Marie' ('Hail Mary'), by French director Jean-Luc Godard, was submitted for registration and classification and was screened by all Board Members in March 1986, The Board was aware that the release of the film overseas had caused controversy and that campaigns had been organised denouncing the film as blasphemous,

The Board was unanimously of the opinion that the film was not blasphemous, indecent or obscene and voted by a majority of six to classify it 'R', with five voting to classify it 'M',

In May 1986, the Board was advised by the President of a Catholic Marian group that a campaign and demonstration would be organised against the film and its forthcoming release in Australia.

The Board soon began receiving letters of protest - many identically worded and in roneoed form - which, by the end of August had totalled 39 816, It was clear that, with one or two exceptions, none of the correspondents had seen the film.

The campaign against the film also took other forms including petitions to Federal Parliament, media interviews and demonstrations outside the State Theatre where the film was first screened in Australia at the Sydney Film Festival early in June.

In July 1986, a Roman Catholic priest and an Anglican priest sought, in an action brought in the Federal Court, to have the Board's decision to register the film set aside on the grounds that the Board had failed to prohibit the importation of a blasphemous film as required by the Customs (Cinematograph Films) Regulations.

On 4 August 1986, in the Federal Court, Mr Justice Sheppard found that the two ministers of religion did not have standing as 'persons aggrieved' in terms of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act and dismissed the application. In his judgment, Mr Justice Sheppard said: 'Notwithstanding their special position as ministers of religion, I do not think that they stand in any different position from countless other members of the community who, with varying degrees of commitment, profess the Christian faith.'

The applicants were granted leave to appeal to the Full Court on 24 October 1986 and on 13 February 1987, Justices Fisher, Lockhart and Wilcox handed down their decision that the ministers did have standing as 'persons aggrieved'.

The judges held that as ministers of religion the appellants were in a special position compared with ordinary members of the public, 'in that it was their duty and vocation to maintain the sanctity of the scriptures, to spread the Gospel, to teach and foster Christian beliefs and to repel or oppose blasphemy which was the denial of the basic tenets of their faith'.
The Film Censorship Board has not sought leave to appeal this decision and awaits any developments in relation to the substantive application.

 

 

Christian nuts fight on

Two years after the original action, Christians continued to protest against HAIL MARY. The following is taken from the OFLC and Films Board of Review Report on Activities 1988 to 1989.

Having been accorded standing as "persons aggrieved" within the meaning of the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977 (see 1986 Report on Activities, page 16), Rev. Fr. Walter Ogle and Rev. Fr. John O'Neill initiated action in the Federal Court of Australia against the Film Censorship Board to have its decision to register Je Vous Salue Marie (Hail Mary) set aside and against Pan American Productions, importers of the film, to have the film exported or destroyed. When the action failed they sought to revive it early in 1988. However, it was discontinued upon receipt of evidence that the print of the film had been destroyed at the direction of the importer.

 

This final statement is rather odd. The film print may have been destroyed, after all, the theatrical run was well and truly over, however the videotape remained for rent.

 

 

Video and DVD releases

Following its theatrical releases Video Excellence released HAIL MARY on VHS. The cover played on the controversy with the words:

SHOULD THIS FILM BE BANNED?
JUDGE FOR YOURSELF!

Umbrella Entertainment released the film on DVD in March 2006.

 

 

Produced by the devil in the studios of hell

In his 2004 review of THE PASSION OF CHRIST, Fred Nile had this to say about the film.

"I have condemned many anti-Christian, blasphemous, pornographic films during the years, such as Hail Mary and The Last Temptation of Christ, which I said were produced by the devil in the studios of hell"

 

To read about more Christian hysteria, see our separate entry for THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

 

 

Fred Nile vs. Janet Strickland

During debates in the NSW Legislative Council, Fred Nile has spoken of being sued by the Chief Censor.

 

Legal Profession Amendment (National Competition Policy Review) Bill
NSW Legislative Council
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile
11 June 2002

On one occasion when a barrister represented me in a defamation case I reluctantly agreed to an expensive settlement. I had to pay out tens of thousands of dollars in a case in which I, as a layman, did not believe I was guilty, but I had to accept the legal advice of the barristers who were representing me.

...I had to pay the Chief Censor because I criticised its approval of the Hail Mary film. How can a person be found guilty of defamation when dealing with the Chief Censor? I thought those sorts of people were open to criticism from the Left and the Right. I criticised the Chief Censor for allowing the film to be shown. After the settlement the barrister sent me a bill for the following week when the case was to go before the Supreme Court. The case did not go before the Supreme Court but the barrister thought I should still pay his fees for that week.

I was particularly disappointed when I found out he had another important case—and I will not mention any names—which he must have known about some weeks prior to my case being listed. My barrister could have adjusted his calendar to fit in my case. I paid the barrister's fees because I was threatened. I did not know that other avenues were open to me. I was told, "If you do not pay these fees you will go on some sort of black list and no-one will represent you in the future." I reluctantly paid thousands of dollars for a court case that was never held. With that exception, in the main I have received good service from barristers and solicitors. I support the bill.

 

 

Defamation Bill
NSW Legislative Council
Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile
18 October 2005

...one case involved being sued by the Chief Censor for criticism of her actions in regard to the Hail Mary film.

In the chief censor case I sent out a request for prayer. It got into Janet Strickland's hands, and she then issued a second action against me for aggravation of defamation. I aggravated her by making it public that I was being sued. In some way one is supposed to be silent and suffer silently.

 

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Halloween 3: Season of the Witch

Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace / 1982 / USA / IMDb

This film has never had problems with the Australian censors. It is included because the distributor released a censored print.

 

In the early 80s, Thorn EMI released HALLOWEEN 3: SEASON OF THE WITCH on video in Australia. The print was uncut, and ran 90:38.

In 2001, Infogrames released a censored version on DVD that ran 92:06.

 

 

Censored HALLOWEEN 3 DVD

Thanks to Craig S for the following description of the missing footage.

During the scene where Harry Grimbridge is murdered, the assassin enters the room and poises his fingers above his head, before using them to kill him. Only a couple of seconds of his death is shown, before it cuts to the mask laying on the floor.

When Starker is killed, they do not show the second shot of the assassin's face after the fountain of blood sprays from Starker's neck. It cuts straight to Ellie jumping in shock after Marge accidentally hits her car horn, and is missing the scene where she is walking through the parking lot.

Similarly, when Marge is killed, only a quick shot of her hands covering her face is shown, before it fades out.

During the Halloween montage towards the end of the movie, the scene showing the trick-or-treaters in Phoenix, Arizona, is cut out, and goes straight from the shot of the Silver Shamrock van in Seattle to the aerial view of Phoenix at the end of the scene.

Again, when Teddy is killed, the scene is cut. It shows the assassin forcing the drill into her face, but cuts out the part at the end where it gets up and walks off.

A final change occurs at the hospital when Harry Grimbridge is admitted. Some of the dialogue between Walter Jones and Challis is missing. When we see the shot of Grimbridge on the stretcher in front of the TV, the lines "Hey, can I leave now?", and "Sure, I don't see why not" are missing, and cuts straight to Challis shaking Walter's hand and saying, "Thanks a lot for bringing him."

 

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Hands of the Ripper

Directed by Peter Sasdy / 1971 / UK / IMDb

In February 1972, a 7836-feet (87:18) print of HANDS OF THE RIPPER was banned because of 'excessive violence'. U.I.P censored it down to 2333.54-meters (85:17), and in December 1972 it was awarded an M-rating. This cut version played theatrically in Australia.

HANDS OF THE RIPPER was one of three Hammer films that were banned by the Australian Censorship Board during the first year of the R-rating. The other titles were DEMONS OF THE MIND (1972) and VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972).

 

 

Video and DVD releases

In February 1984 and April 1985, Pioneer Electronic twice had 85m tapes passed with an M-rating.

Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment had an 85m tape passed with an M-rating in October 1985.

All three were awarded for violence, which were described as being:

Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous

We do not believe either of these tapes were released in Australia.

 

In 2005, MRA Entertainment released an 81:38 (PAL) version of HANDS OF THE RIPPER on DVD. The film was part of a HAMMER HORROR COLLECTION box set that also included VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972) and TWINS OF EVIL (1971).

 

 

HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1971): The censored scenes

Thanks to Simon for this information.

The scenes of ‘excessive violence’ that caused HANDS OF THE RIPPER to be banned in 1972 would be:

14m: The aftermath shot of Mrs Golding pinned to the door with a pole.

36m approx: Anna slashes the throat of Dolly, and then stabs her in the neck. This is a very graphic murder for a Hammer film.

53m approx: Anna stabs Long Liz in the eye with hatpins. A short time later, we see her staggering through the street with the pins protruding from her eye.

These are the most graphic scenes in the film. However, at the time, distributors often targeted an M-rating for horror films. The two minutes of cuts may have been made with the aim of securing this lower rating.

The MRA Entertainment DVD runs 81:38, which despite the few seconds difference, I would guess is the same as the UK release from Network.

DVD Compare has some interesting information about the international censorship of HANDS OF THE RIPPER, including claims that the murder of Dolly exists in a longer version.

 

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The Hangover

Directed by Todd Phillips / 2009 / USA / IMDb

This film has never had problems with the Australian censors. It is included because the distributor chose to censor it to achieve a more commercial rating.

 

Roadshow Films had a 99m version of THE HANGOVER rated MA15+ (Strong sexual references, Coarse language and nudity) in May 2009.

It was later discovered that Roadshow had submitted a pre-censored version to avoid an R18+ rating.

 

 

Censored MA15+ Theatrical Release

The Hangover censorship controversy answered!
blog.quickflix.com.au, June 19, 2009

The risqué shot occurs during the end credits, but was blurred out when it appeared on screen. I won't reveal the contents of the shot, but if I tell you it involves an elevator and a prosthetic penis, you can probably put two and two together.

A representative at Roadshow Films (with a sense of humour, thank God) informed me that it was the studio's decision to cut the shot. Keeping the image would have increased the film's MA15+ rating to an R18+.

In America (where the shot remains fully visible), the picture is rated R. This means anyone under the age of 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

The Australian R rating restricts anyone from under the age of 18 from entering the cinema. Meanwhile, an Australian MA rating means anyone under the age of 15 must be accompanied by an adult or parent guardian. Confused yet?

BASICALLY, the Office of Literature and Classification must have informed Roadshow that The Hangover would be rated R18+ if that particular shot remained in the picture. Considering a large portion of the film's audience would most likely be boys aged 15-21, it would have been a massive blow to the grosses to restrict those under the age of 18. Therefore, the shot was cut and an MA rating was approved.

 

 

UK censorship same as Australia

In the UK, THE HANGOVER had the exact same problems. Here is what the BBFC had to say.

THE HANGOVER
Classified 15 May, 2009
The BBFC advised the company that the film was likely to receive an '18' classification but that the requested '15' certificate could be achieved by making one change to visuals in the closing credits. The BBFC suggested that brief shots in which a man is being fellated by a woman, with clear sight of an apparent erect penis in the woman's mouth, be removed. When the finished version of the film was submitted, the shots had been removed and the film was classified '15'.

 

 

MA15+ and R18+ DVD releases

On October 16, 2009, a 128m DVD of the extended version of was passed with an R18+ (High impact sexual images) rating.

October 23, 2009, saw a DVD of the 124m theatrical cut rated MA15+ (Coarse language and nudity; Strong sexual references).

On November 2, 2009, a 127m version received an MA15+ (Coarse language and nudity; Strong sexual references) rating. In all cases, Warner Bros Entertainment was the applicant.

 

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Hard Bounty

Directed by Jim Wynorski / 1995 / USA / IMDb

An 89m video of HARD BOUNTY was Refused Classification in 1995. 21st Century Pictures censored it down to 84m (84:23), and in February 1996 were awarded an M (Medium Level Violence and Sex Scenes) rating. The tape that was eventually released incorrectly claimed the rating to be MA15+ (Medium Level Violence and Sex Scenes).

There does not appear to be any obvious instances of censorship in the 21st Century Pictures VHS. However, the large amount of footage that has been removed would seem to indicate that a whole scene has been deleted. On-line descriptions of this title mention a rape, while the Australian release contains no such scene.

 

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Hardcore: Volume 2

Directed by Richard Kern / 1986-93 / USA

This second volume of short film films from New York filmmaker Richard Kern was banned by the Classification Board in May 2006. It was submitted by the Victorian Police following a raid on a Melbourne bookstore. HARDCORE: VOLUME 1 was also taken (and not returned), but does not appear in the censor's database.

 

The VHS tape is listed as running 99m. It is difficult to pin identify exactly which films were on this volume, though one on-line source lists it as:

Another volume of unpredictable and aggressive short films from notorious New York realist Richard Kern. Starring an assortment of underground musicians and performance artists- most notably Lydia Lunch. Described as "violent" and "offensive" by some, embraced by others as perversion at its most cinematic. Not for the young, impressionable or easily offended! Contains five short films: Fingered ('86), Submit To Me Now ('87), My Nightmare ('93), Horoscope ('91), X is Y ('90).

 

This does appear to be the likely line up of films as FINGERED is one of Kern's most notorious titles and would definitely have problems with the Classification Board.

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Hard Target

Directed by John Woo / 1993 / USA / IMDb

This film has never had problems with the Australian censors. It is included because the distributor released a censored print.

 

United International Pictures had 93m 35mm and 16mm prints of HARD TARGET passed with MA15+ (High level violence; Medium level coarse language) ratings in September 1993, and February 1994.

In April 1994, United International Pictures had a 96m VHS passed with an R18+ (Medium level violence) rating. This was never released and the only tape that appeared was the MA15+ version on the CIC label.

All of these versions of HARD TARGET were missing a significant amount of violent footage, which had been removed for the US R-rating. These censored prints went on to play theatrically, and later to be released on video by Universal.

In 2000, Columbia-Tristar released HARD TARGET on DVD with an R18+ (Medium level violence) rating. This particular print restores around 4m of footage that was missing from the MA15+ tape.

For an excellent description of the cuts and censorship history of HARD TARGET, see Michael D's DVD site.

 

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