American adult movies from 1976 that have been cut or banned in Australia.
The X-rating, for hardcore sex, was introduced in February 1984.
Alice in Wonderland
Directed by Bud Townsend / 1976 / USA / IMDb
In September 1976, a 1974.96-meter (71:59) print of ALICE IN WONDERLAND was censored by 18.4-meters (00:40) for an R-rating. The cuts were made to remove ‘indecency’.
20th Century Fox was the applicant.
Both hardcore and softcore versions were prepared for worldwide distribution. Presumably, the R-rated Australian theatrical print began life as the latter.
Banned in Queensland
On 29 June 1978, the censored R-rated version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
Banned on video
In April 1979, a 74-minute video was refused because of ‘indecency’. The tape, submitted by Videobrain, was presumably an import.
Further bans followed in November 1981 for both Meridien Electronics and Video Classics. These 76-minute tapes ran into problems because of sex, which was found to be:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
R-rated softcore videos
In August 1982, a 75-minute tape censored for an R-rating. The sex was now described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Video Classics, the applicant, released it on their Media Home Entertainment sub-label.
Blake Films had a 2084:00-meter (75:58) ‘soft version’ passed with an R-rating in June 1983.
This was followed in April 1984 by Video Classics, who had a 76-minute tape passed with an R-rating.
Both of these final two submissions were passed for the same reason as the one in August 1982.
Review
Mike reports
Unknown DVD – 77:55 (hardcore version)
Alice (Kristine DeBell) follows the White Rabbit (Larry Gelman) into Wonderland where she meets the Mad Hatter (Alan Novak), Tweedledum (Bree Anthony), Tweedledee (Tony Richards) and finally the Queen of Hearts (Juliet Graham). All are pleased to meet her while she is discovering her emergent sexuality. Her education complete, she leaves Wonderland and settles down with her boyfriend William (Ron Nelson) and they live happily ever after.
ALICE IN WONDERLAND exists in multiple versions, some hardcore and some softcore. But in all of them the sex is very tame. The sex scenes are generally fleeting, involve no lower body nudity and the emphasis is always on the comedy of the sex rather than arousal. Even the real sex scenes, such as Alice trying to comfort Humpty Dumpty (Bucky Searles) by giving him a blowjob, don’t seem realistic due to the fantasy context.
Given the many different variants, it’s difficult to be certain about what was in the print viewed by the Film Censorship Board in 1976 and what they found problematic. But a strong possibility is a scene at 22:55 when Alice, on her way to the Mad Hatter’s tea party, stops for a rest in the woods, sits down on a tree stump and starts to masturbate. Very soon the camera zooms in for a tight close-up of her vagina and stays there for around 00:40. This scene may also have been responsible for the banning of the presumably softcore VHS versions submitted in 1979 and 1981.
Blonde Velvet
Directed by Bill Milling / 1976 / USA / IMDb
In January 1982, a 49-minute ‘modified version’ of BLONDE VELVET was passed on videotape with an R-rating. It was awarded for sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Anjohn International was the applicant.
This may have been a copy of the UK pre-cert released by either Poseidon or Intercity. Both labels issued I FEEL IT RISING (aka TEMPTATIONS) (1976), SEXPERT (1975) and TANGO OF PERVERSION (1973) that Anjohn International had also imported.
Review
Mike reports
Video-X-Pix (us) – DVD – 75:02
Eva Kovack (Jennifer Welles) runs a worldwide espionage agency made up of glamorous women who seduce and blackmail male diplomats. After drugging the diplomats and stealing their official papers, her agents take them to her hideout, which seems to be a cross between a gym and a hospital in which they engage in group sex.
The complete version of BLONDE VELVET is hardcore, but it was at some point cut down to 55 minutes for a US softcore release. That version must have been a confusing watch as the main function of the real sex in the film is to distract the viewer from the rather shaky plot that even the actors don’t seem to have bought into. The softcore version must have contained very little sex.
The UK pre-certs, presumably imported to Australia, were based on the 49:10 censored version passed by the BBFC with an X-rating in December 1980. The extra BBFC cuts would have been to a scene towards the end in which, out of nowhere, Eva Kovack claims to have been mistreated by the enemy during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. We see a black and white flashback in which a woman is chased through the woods by a soldier who then rapes her quite graphically against a tree. This scene is basically softcore with a few hardcore moments, and would undoubtedly have been cut by the BBFC had it been in the version they viewed.
BLONDE VELVET is quite bewildering, so when cut down to 49 minutes it’s hard to see how it would even have been strong enough for an R rating.
Female Chauvinists
aka Pussy Brigade
Directed by Jaacov Jaacovi / 1976 / USA / IMDb
In February 1978, a 2413.84-meter (87:59) print of FEMALE CHAUVINISTS was banned because of ‘indecency’.
It was awarded an R-rating in June 1978. However, this was only after the 2022.00-meter (73:42) ‘reconstructed version’ lost a further 12.30-meters (00:26) of ‘indecency’.
14th Mandolin, the applicant, released on their King of Video label.
Banned in Queensland No. 1
On 8 March 1979, the censored R-rated version of FEMALE CHAUVINISTS was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was 14th Mandolin.
Second video?
The 1981 Video Classics catalogue advertises FEMALE CHAUVINISTS as being available on their Movies at Midnight label.
It is unclear if it was ever released.
Hard & Soft
The X-rating was introduced in February 1984. In July of that year, a 90-minute tape of THE FEMALE CHAUVINISTS was passed with this new classification. It was awarded for sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
This was followed in April 1985 by a 70-minute tape, which was passed with an R-rating. The sex was now described as being:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In both cases, 14th Mandolin retitled it PUSSY BRIGADE and released it on their Pink Video label.
Banned in Queensland No. 2
On 25 May 1985, the censored 70-minute R-rated version of PUSSY BRIGADE was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was 14th Mandolin.
Amazon Prime rental
In February 2025, it received an MA15+ (Strong nudity, Strong sex scenes, Strong sexualised imagery) from the Amazon Classification Tool.
The classification matrix described,
Strong impact: nudity, sex
Moderate impact: themes, language
Mild impact: violence
None: drug use
The 50-minute print was submitted as FEMALE CHAUVINISTS and labelled with an incorrect 2022 year of production.
Gums
Directed by Robert J. Kaplan / 1976 / USA / IMDb
In June 1981, a 1800.50-meter (65:38) print of GUMS was banned because of sex, which was described as being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
…and for language, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
A 1729.06-meter (63:01) ‘reconstructed version’ was passed with an R-rating in August 1981. It was awarded for sex and language, which were both said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Blake Films was the applicant.
Banned in Queensland
On 19 April 1982, the censored R-rated version of GUMS was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was Blake Films.
Censored videos
In the early 1980s, 14th Mandolin released GUMS on their King of Video label.
In February 1984, a 60-minute tape was passed with an R-rating. Pakenham Video Library was the applicant.
The same month saw Blake Films receive an R-rating for a 62-minute tape.
Roadshow released GUMS on tape on their Vibrant Video label.
Review
Mike reports
Alpha Blue Archives (us) – VHS – 69:38
A adult parody of JAWS (1975) in which the waters around a tourist resort are being terrorised by a sexually voracious mermaid (Terri Hall) who devours (part of) any man who ventures into the sea.
It’s likely that the majority of the Film Censorship Board’s cuts were to the occasional hardcore underwater shots of the mermaid pleasuring male swimmers. There aren’t many of these and they would have been easily removable.
There may also have been an issue with a scene in a woman whips a man on the bare buttocks, although it’s presented as a joke and isn’t terribly enthusiastic.
It’s difficult to make sense of the Board’s claim that the language in GUMS was frequent, high and gratuitous. There is some sexual talk at times but nothing too explicit. The strongest language is heard when the town’s Mayor (Ian Morley) is annoyed that the police have closed the beach to tourists due to the discovery of a male swimmer who has had his penis bitten off by the mermaid. He tells the local sheriff that he’s ‘closed that beach tighter than a virgin’s cunt’.
The Joy of Letting Go
Directed by John Gregory / 1976 / USA / IMDb
In March 1978, a 2104.70-meter (76:43) print of THE JOY OF LETTING GO was banned because of ‘indecency’. The running time indicates that this was a precut before submission.
It was finally passed with an R-rating in July 1978, but only after the 1755.00-meter (63:58) ‘reconstructed version’ lost a further 12.50-meter (00:27). These cuts were again made to remove ‘indecency’.
Blake Films was the applicant.
The image used for the daybill appears to have been censored by applying a bra to conceal the bare breasts.
Banned pre-cert import
In August 1982, a 37-minute video of THE JOY OF LETTING GO was banned because of sex. This was said to be:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
International Video Pty Ltd was the applicant.
This may have been a UK import as a version with a similar running time was released on the Dapon label.
X-rated hardcore video
In May 1984, Blake Films had an 81-minute tape passed with the newly introduced X-rating. The sex was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
The uncut version was released on tape in 1984 by Mature Media Group/Caballero Home Video.