Movies from Greece that have been cut or banned in Australia.
The Love Maniacs
aka Conflict of Emotions
Directed by Omiros Efstratiadis / 1971 / Greece / IMDb
In August 1972, a 2541.12-meter (92:38) print of THE LOVE MANIACS was censored by 89.30-meters (03:15) for an R-rating.
The cuts were made to remove ‘indecency and incitement to drug abuse’.
Lyra Films were the applicant.
Possible cuts
Mike reports
88.36 – VHS (gr)
Tonis (Udo Kier) is a morphine addict, and there are three scenes showing how the drug is prepared and injected. There are also a few shots of hippies smoking spliffs and some sex.
Resubmission
In April 1979, a 2753.00-meter (100:21) print was R-rated under the title CONFLICT OF EMOTIONS. It was nearly ten minutes longer than THE LOVE MANIACS version.
Dynasty Film Distributors, the applicant, resubmitted a number of Lyra Films titles.
Greek VHS import
Several sites, including themoviedb.org, display identical images of a VHS from an Australian store called Video Busters. It is an import of the Greek VHS, titled Εκπέμπω SOS… ναρκωτικά, with a fake M-rating on the cover.
The origin of this image remains unclear.
Udo’s other Greek vacation
Mike reports
In 1971, Udo Kier starred in a second Greek movie titles PROKLISIS (aka PROVOCATION) which appears to have been shot at the same time as OI EROTOMANEIS (aka THE LOVE MANIACS). Both contain a sequence, with Udo, of hippies dancing in some sort of nightclub. They are not exactly the same footage but are so similar that they must have been shot at the same time. There are several sex scenes and a 00:17 sequence of a woman smoking cannabis and hallucinating.
In February 1973 Lyra Films received an R-rating for a 2431.80-meter (88:38) print under the title PROKLISIS. No censorship issue were noted, but the version I viewed ran 90:37. The IMDb gives the runtime as 110 minutes, but it also lists an alternative version of 91 minutes.
It is hard to prove, but the shorter Australian running time may point to some precuts before submission.