American adult movies from 1981 that have been cut or banned in Australia.
The X-rating, for hardcore sex, was introduced in February 1984.
Exposed
aka Superstud
Directed by Jeffrey Fairbanks / 1981 / USA / IMDb
In December 1982, a 2112.00 (76:59) print and a 78-minute videotape were both Refused Registration. The reason was sex, which was described as being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
The running time indicates that the 35mm print was precensored before submission.
A 2058-meter (75:01) ‘reconstructed version’ was passed with an R-rating in March 1983. It was awarded for sex, which was now found to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
The applicant, Blake Films, changed the title to SUPERSTUD.
Title confusion
In May 1982, the Film Censorship Board listed a 78-minute tape, titled EXPOSED, as being passed with R-rating. It was awarded for sex, which was found to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
…and for violence:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In December 1982, they published a new entry (see above) that superseded the erroneous May 1982 listing. It was now said to be not identical to EXPOSED from the March 1974 list.
The original May 1982 entry was initially thought to be a resubmission of Christina Lindberg’s DIARY OF A RAPE (1971). In Australia, this had been retitled EXPOSED when passed with an R-rating in March 1974. Coincidentally, it was also submitted by Blake Films.
This explains the confused information of it being Swedish in origin (1971 version), but with Wesley Emerson (1981 version) listed as the Producer. This error persists in the National Classification Database.
What is unclear is why they passed EXPOSED (1981) with an R-rating in May 1982 and banned it in December 1982.
Censored R-rated videos
In February 1984, it was again R-rated for the same reasons as in March 1983. This time, the 74-minute tape was submitted as EXPOSED rather than SUPERSTUD.
In all of the above cases, Blake Films was the applicant.
In June 1985, a double-bill tape of a 74-minute EXPOSED and an 82-minute CHAMPAGNE FOR BREAKFAST (1980) was awarded an R-rating for:
Sex
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
Language
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
The tape was released by Roadshow Home Video.
Banned in Queensland
On 21 May 1985, SUPER STUD was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review. This would have been one of the previously censored R-rated versions.
The distributor was Blake Films.
Review
Mike reports
Alpha Blue Archives – DVD – 86:27
Willie Gordon (John Leslie) is a retired porn star who has since settled down and got married. Max (Anthony Spinelli) is a producer whose star has just walked off the set of a movie, so he decides to lure Willie back for one last film. Complications ensue, as Willie’s family are unaware of his past in the adult film industry. His wife finds out but shows she has forgiven him by getting herself cast in the same movie.
It is fair to assume that all of the Australian submissions of EXPOSED in the 1980s had been pre-edited to remove the hardcore. The mystery is why the Film Censorship Board first passed the softcore version uncut, then banned it, and finally allowed it to be released with 01:58 of cuts.
The solution may lie in a scene at 26:50. A neighbour (Kitty Shayne) moves in next door to Willie and his family and tells him that she recognises him from adult films. She knows that he doesn’t want his wife to find out so she blackmails him into having sex. At the start of their sex scene he slaps her face hard and she falls backwards onto the bed, saying, ‘You bastard, you know how I like it!’. The rest of the scene includes more slapping, hair pulling, throwing her around the bed and placing his hands around her throat. This is evidently consensual rough sex, which they both enjoy.
When the Board passed EXPOSED intact in May 1982, they referred to both sex and violence separately and clearly considered both of them to be acceptable. In December 1982, they might have reconsidered and judged that since the violence takes place in the context of a sex scene, this raises the impact of the sex to ‘high’. The cuts they demanded may have been to the violent elements of the sex scene. It is notable that when they passed the cut version in March 1983, violence was no longer mentioned.
The only other violence takes place later when we see Willie taking part in a sex scene on a film set in which two men in hoods are whipping some naked cheerleaders. However, this scene would have been part of the distributor’s precuts as real sex is taking place elsewhere in the frame.
The Master and Ms. Johnson
Directed by Ted Roter / 1981 / USA / IMDb
In January 1982, a 1852.80-meter (67:32) ‘pre-cut censor version’ of THE MASTER AND MS. JOHNSON was banned because of sex. It was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
It eventually passed with an R-rating in August 1982. However, the 1782.00-meter (64:57) ‘reconstructed pre-cut censor version’ still lost a further 11.00-meters (00:24) before the classification was awarded. The further censorship was to remove sex, which the extra cuts had already lowered to being:
Frequency: Infrequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
While in the R-rated version it was:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: Medium
Purpose: Gratuitous
In both cases, Cinerama Films was the applicant.
Review
Mike reports
Vinegar Syndrome (us) – DVD – 78:51
A psychiatrist referred to as ‘The Master’ (Larry Moore) and his assistant Veronica Johnson (Dawn Perry) run a private clinic where they treat patients’ sexual problems. Most of the film is a series of vignettes of the psychiatrist’s clients being offered increasingly peculiar forms of therapy, until the ‘real’ doctor turns up at the end and unmasks ‘The Master’ as an impostor.
The January 1982 submission had clearly been trimmed to remove the hardcore. The additional three minutes of cuts were most likely to the following scenes:
1. A lesbian couple visit the clinic and explain to ‘The Master’ that they’re having trouble achieving sexual satisfaction. While her partner is told to have sex with Ms. Johnson in the next room, The Master tells Gigi (Tawny Pearl) that she should explore her sexual fantasies. She does this by regressing to her younger self and acting in an immature manner while calling him ‘daddy’. He puts her over his knee and spanks her until her buttocks turn red.
2. There is an eleven minute orgy scene in which all the patients have sex with each other. This features 12-15 participants and the camera pans continuously around the room to one group after another. The action suggests that it might become stronger at times as one of the women is clad in cellophane for unexplained reasons.
Hardcore video
The X-rating was introduced in February 1984. In that month, Luhaze had a 79-minute video passed with this new classification.
The X allowed for sex that was:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
THE MASTER AND MS. JOHNSON was released on video by Select-a-Tape/Rodox.
Banned in Queensland
On 25 September 1984, the censored R-rated version of THE MASTER AND MS. JOHNSON was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was 14th Mandolin.