The movies of Mac Ahlberg that have been cut or banned in Australia.
See also, I, A WOMAN (1965) and SWEDISH FANNY HILL (1968) in the Film Censorship Database No. 2.
I, a Woman No. 2
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1968 / Denmark – Sweden / IMDb
In December 1971, a 7163-foot (79:35) print of I, A WOMAN NO. 2 was banned because of ‘indecency’.
Filmways Australasia was the applicant.
Review
Mike reports
Something Weird Video (us) – DVD – 79:24
Hans Henrik Holm (Lars Lunøe) is an antique dealer who is reluctant to sell any antiques since he doesn’t think the average customer will appreciate them. He is heavily in debt to the local tradesmen but manages by selling pornographic pictures of his wife Siv (Gio Petré) to anyone who asks and is quite willing to pimp her out to his friends while he watches. Siv puts up with the degradation until she discovers that he drove his first wife to attempted suicide and finally decides to leave him when she finds that he’s been keeping a collection of Nazi memorabilia in the locked antique chest in their living room.
I, A WOMAN NO. 2 was submitted to the Board and banned in the very early days of the R-rating in late 1971. At that point the boundaries of what they were prepared to pass weren’t set in stone, so it would probably have passed with cuts a couple of years later.
The photographs which Hans Henrik takes of his wife shouldn’t have been a problem as they are based on simple nudity rather than sexualised posing. Most of the sex scenes are fairly chaste in that they finish quite quickly and are usually played off facial reactions with only the occasional view of breasts. One slightly stronger scene occurs when Hans Henrik decides to take his mind off his financial problems by going to a club and watching two women having fairly enthusiastic sex with each other. This scene includes full body nudity and lots of close-ups. They may have been intended to make the scene more explicit but the camera gets so close at times that the viewer can no longer see what’s happening. There is also a moment when Hans Henrik looks like he’s about to sexually assault Siv and he rips off her blouse revealing her breasts. But the scene stops there and nothing else happens.
As it is the early days of the R-rating, it’s unclear if the Nazi theme might have been problematic. It turns out that Hans Henrik was a former SS officer who still absolutely believes in National Socialism and he gives a brief but fairly graphic speech in which he explains his views on white supremacy.
The Daughter
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1970 / Denmark / IMDb
In July 1972, a 2369.82-meter (86:23) print of THE DAUGHTER was banned because of ‘indecency and incitement to drug abuse’.
A censored 1946.00-meter (70:56) version was resubmitted, but this too was refused in October 1972. This time the reason was, ‘indecency, and excessive violence’.
A second censored print was finally passed with an R-rating in February 1974. This 1834.20-meter (70:30) version was nearly sixteen-minutes shorter than the original submission.
In all cases, Roadshow Distributors was the applicant.
Review
Mike reports
After Hours Cinema (us) -DVD – 86:48
Birthe (Inger Sundh) comes home from finishing school to find her mother Siv (Gunbritt Öhrström) in the arms of a strange man. Shocked by this and her mother’s collection of deluxe sex toys, she decides to leave home and falls into a group of hippies. She ends up having a relationship with Stephen (Tom Scott), an African-American medical student who is studying the hippies as part of a psychological experiment, but finds time to share intimacy with his sister Lisa (Ellen Faison) too.
It’s no surprise that the Film Censorship Board had serious problems with THE DAUGHTER. Perhaps unexpectedly, sexual material would have made up only a small proportion of the cuts they required:
Violence
Birthe leaves home and goes to a club where the hippies hang out. A gang of bikers wielding chains arrive and beat up the hippies. From 31:48 to 35:08 (03:20), they assault them quite violently. This includes throwing people over the bar and through tables, punching them repeatedly while they are lying defenceless on the floor, and one is even thrown through a shop window. Some of the victims are bleeding quite badly and a few lose consciousness.
Drugs
35:45 to 45:00 (09:15) – We see the hippies back at their base after they have fled from the club. The camera pans around the room and captures many people smoking cannabis, filling hash pipes and smoking hashish. This scene must have been very difficult to cut, as the drug taking is almost constant.
Sex
43:03 to 43: 48 (00:45) – Birthe and Egon (Søren Strømberg) who had been cuddling previously start to have sex. Birthe says ‘no’ repeatedly but Egon continues to force himself on her. He only stops when another hippie tells him that it is no use because she is a lesbian. He thinks this because he has found a photograph of a naked woman in Birthe’s purse, but it turns out to be a picture of her mother.
Nana, Girl of Pleasure
aka Take Me, Love Me
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1970 / Sweden – France / IMDb
In May 1971, a 9855-feet (109:30) print of NANA, GIRL OF PLEASURE was banned because of ‘indecency’.
This classification was awarded five-months before the introduction of the R-rating. The highest classification available at this time was SOA (Suitable only for Adults), which was broadly equivalent to an M-rating.
It was submitted under the title TAKE ME, LOVE ME.
Adults only rating
In October 1971, an 8768-feet (97:41) print of NANA, GIRL OF PLEASURE was censored by 87-feet (00:58) for an R-rating.
Blake Films was the applicant.
This new classification began to be awarded in October 1971. However, it was not officially issued until it became operative on 15 November 1971.
We believe NANA, GIRL OF PLEASURE may be the first film ever censored under the new system.
All the sex
Matt reports.
Klubb Super 8 (se), DVD, 96:10 (PAL), onscreen title NANA
40:00 – A sex scene between Nana (Anna Gaël) and Georges (Gérard Berner) appears to have had explicit footage added later. Her hand is shown touching his penis and holding it as he becomes erect. This is followed by a side view of Georges on top, Nana guiding his penis in and him thrusting several times. The extra footage is reasonably well integrated, but the different lighting gives it away. Presumably, this was not included in the version submitted for an Australian rating.
70:00 – Nana’s hand is shown touching Tina’s (Gillian Hills) breast and following her body down between her legs. Initially, this looked like another insert sequence, but it appears to be part of the original film. If that were the case, then this would have been part of the 00:58 of cuts.
There are other softcore sex scenes in the film, but they are relatively tame.
The Klubb Super 8 website mentions that the movie was a flop in Sweden when it first premiered and ten-minutes were removed before it was re-released. This may explain why in May 1971 it ran 109:30 (as TAKE ME, LOVE ME), but by October it was down to 97:41 (as NANA, GIRL OF PLEASURE).
Flossie
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1974 / Sweden / IMDb
In February 1975, a 2596.00-meter (94:38) print of FLOSSIE was banned because of ‘indecency’.
An unsuccessful appeal was made to the Films Board of Review in April 1975.
In both cases, Roadshow Distributors was the applicant.
Justine and Juliette
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1975 / Sweden / IMDb
In January 1976, a 2482.00-meter (90:28) print of JUSTINE AND JULIETTE was banned because of ‘indecency’.
A 1947.53-meter (70:59) ‘soft version’ was passed with an R-rating in October 1976.
In both cases, 20th Century Fox was the applicant.
Banned in Queensland
On 11 September 1977, the censored R-rated version of JUSTINE AND JULIETTE was prohibited by the Queensland Films Board of Review.
The distributor was Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
Bel Ami
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1976 / Sweden – France / IMDb
In January 1978, a 2328.10-meter (84:52) print of BEL AMI was passed with an R-rating.
Although it was not listed as such, the running time indicates that it was a censored ‘soft version’.
Natan Scheinwald Productions was the applicant.
Nipples were censored on the poster with the addition of black stars.
Hardcore version
The X-rating was only six months old when in August 1984 it was given to a 98-minute tape of BEL AMI.
It was awarded for sex, which was said to be:
Frequency: Frequent
Explicitness/Intensity: High
Purpose: Gratuitous
It is unknown if Blake Films released this video.
Review
Mike reports
Vid-X-Pix (us) – DVD – 91:14
George Duroy (Harry Reems) plays a sexually reserved poet who is very keen to draw the line between the adult nature of his poems and pornography. After leaving an exhibition of erotic art, he stumbles and almost knocks over a sculpture of an erect penis; he is nearly run over by a car driven by Anita (Christa Linder). In a complete change of personality, he becomes sexually voracious and they stop off for sex in the woods. Eventually he finds a job which suits his new-found spirit of sexual adventure – editor of a French hardcore porn magazine – and he has sex with anyone who can provide him with a good story.
BEL AMI is very loosely based on Guy de Maupassant’s 1885 novel of the same name. Nevertheless, the filmmakers were clearly more interested in the story than the sex, and although it is hardcore, the sex scenes aren’t all that long, are fairly slow and tame overall.
The IMDb claims that the complete version of BEL AMI runs 104 minutes. While I can’t find any confirmation of that, the Australian censorship records show that a 98 minute version existed at one point. This was the version passed with an X-rating in 1984. The extant (2026) version is considerably shorter at 91 minutes and contains around 12-15 minutes of hardcore. While it’s not possible to say how long the version was that Natan Scheinwald Productions started from before submitting their pre-cut version in 1978, it seems quite likely that they would only have needed to remove the hardcore. With that done, the sex would not have been graphic and all of it is consensual.
Discreet Pleasures in a Swedish Upper Class Family
aka Molly
Directed by Mac Ahlberg / 1977 / Sweden / IMDb
In October 1976, a 2491.00-meter (90:48) print of DISCREET PLEASURES IN A SWEDISH UPPER CLASS FAMILY was banned because of ‘indecency’.
Roadshow Distributors were the applicant.
Review
Mike reports
Klubb Super 8 (se) – DVD as MOLLY – 91:12 (English dubbed)
Molly (Marie Forså) and her adopted sister Eva (Eva Axen) are on holiday with a group of other women on the Côte d’Azur. She has frequent flashbacks to her sexual liaisons in Sweden which include her fiance Robin (Peter Loury) and his brother Peter (Christopher Chittell). The two brothers are also enamoured of Lady Flemming (Darby Lloyd Rains) and Maria and Eva are besotted with each other too. All of these sexual permutations and more are played out on screen.
The IMDb wrongly claims that the Swedish version of MOLLY runs 101 minutes, whereas it only lasts 91 minutes and contains 10 minutes of trailers for other films. This Swedish version contains roughly 10 minutes of hardcore sex. The only other known version runs 96 minutes. It is not clear which one Roadshow had access to and whether they pre-cut it. The situation is confused further due to their submission to the Film Censorship Board happening six months before the it played anywhere else.
Nevertheless, the extant 91 minute version gives a fairly good idea of why MOLLY was banned. In the first half especially there is one sex scene after another with very few breaks, and all would still be extremely graphic even after being cut down to softcore. The title used by Roadshow is something of a mystery as the pleasures enjoyed by the family are anything but discreet – not only are they explicit, they’re almost always being secretly watched by other characters. The story features more prominently in the second half of the film. It’s surprising that Roadshow didn’t try submitting an edited version as cutting the print I viewed by around 15 minutes of sex would still leave a viable film and the plot would make just as much sense.