Italian movies made in 1969, cut and banned before the November 1971 liberalisation of the Australian censorship system.
Blow Hot, Blow Cold
Directed by Florestano Vancini / 1969 / Italy / IMDb
June 1970 / Rated: AO / Length: 8659 feet / Time: 96:13 / Censored by 01:01 / Reason: indecency
Censored footage
Shane Harrison reports.
Channel Nine (au) – TV – 1995 uncut screening
Two scenes suffered cuts for the Australian AO release.
Censored at 10:30 by 00:20 approx. – A steamy shower scene between Giulio (Giuliano Gemma) and Laetitia (Rosemary Dexter) was cut to remove close-ups of him washing soap suds off of her nude body.
Censored at 57:00 approx. by 00:40 collectively cut – Through some bushes, Professor Lindmark (Gunnar Björnstrand) spies on the young couple making love in the distance. There were no obvious jump cuts, but as soon as a view got interesting, the camera cut back to the voyeur with some audio popping signalling our censor had been at work. It speaks volumes to how sad our censorship was at the time as the uncut version shows discreet views of a happy, loving couple enjoying themselves.
Burn
Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo / 1969 / Italy – France / IMDb
February 1971 / Rated: A / Length: 10086 feet / Time: 112:04 / Censored by 00:04 / Reason: violence
Post-November 1971 rating
Resubmitted by Corporate Video, and passed with an M (Frequent violence) rating in June 1989. The tape ran 112-minutes and was most likely released by Warner Home Video.
Camille 2000
Directed by Radley Metzger / 1969 / Italy / IMDb
November 1970 / Rated: Banned / Length: 10950 feet / Time: 121:40 / Reason: indecency
December 1970 / Appeal: Against rejection / Length: 10950 feet / Time: 121:40 / Result: Appeal dismissed by Review Board
Post-November 1971 rating
Resubmitted by Roadshow Distributors and passed with an R-rating in October 1974. The print ran 3337.56-meters (121:40).
A 115-minute VHS was passed with an M (Medium level sex scenes, Drug use) rating in March 1992. It was released by Columbia Tri-Star Hoyts Video.
In April 2005, Umbrella Entertainment issued it as part of a DVD box set titled THE SEXADELIC COLLECTION. This also included Radley Metzger’s THE LICKERISH QUARTET (1970) and SCORE (1973). The CAMILLE 2000 disc used the same M (Medium level sex scenes, Drug use) rating that had been awarded in March 1992.
Umbrella eventually resubmitted it and received an M (Moderate sex scenes, Drug use) rating in September 2005. They released it as a single DVD in January 2006.
Colpo di Stato
aka Coup D’Etat
Directed by Luciano Salce / 1969 / Italy / IMDb
January 1971 / Rated: A / Length: 9848 feet / Time: 109:25 / Censored by 00:11 / Reason: indecency
The Damned
Directed by Luchino Visconti / 1969 / Italy – West Germany / IMDb
The original theatrical release was censored for a ‘Not Suitable for Children’ rating.
Censored footage
Shane Harrison reports.
Three complete sequences were removed.
1. A long scene of post coital-chat between Sophie (Ingrid Thulin) and Friedrich (Dirk Bogarde), where she is naked for protracted screen time. The scene establishes that she is a Lady Macbeth character as she coaxes a weak Friedrich into the benefit of cooperating with the Nazis and worse. The whole scene was removed, so the audience had no idea at this point that she was the power behind the throne.
2. The scene depicting the treacherous Night of the Long Knives was removed. This prolonged sequence detailed a homosexual orgy, drunken assaults on the serving women and ends with the notorious massacre. The removal left the audience in the dark as to the demise of one of the major characters who simply disappeared. He was eventually referred to as dead near the end of the movie.
3. Near the climax, Sophie’s control is destroyed after she is raped by her son Martin Von Essenbeck (Helmut Berger). The rape plot was removed entirely, making it unfathomable why such a strong character ended as a fragile wreck.
A cut version played on TV in Melbourne in the late 1970s. It included a scene where a 6-year-old girl, who was assaulted by Martin, is shown hanging from the ceiling, murdered. This view was not in the Australian theatrical version, or the subsequent VHS and DVD releases.
Post-November 1971 rating
Resubmitted by Corporate Video, and passed with an M-rating in June 1987. The tape ran 148-minutes and was most likely released by Warner Home Video.
The Electric Chair
Directed by Demofilo Fidani / 1969 / Italy – Iran / IMDb
November 1970 / Rated: A / Length: 8293 feet / Time: 92:09 / Censored by 01:50 / Reason: violence
How, When and with Whom
Directed by Antonio Pietrangeli / 1969 / Italy – France / IMDb
July 1970 / Rated: SOA / Length: 9267 feet / Time: 102:58 / Censored by 00:25 / Reason: indecency
In the Labyrinth of Love
Directed by Alfonso Brescia / 1969 / Italy / IMDb
July 1971 / Rated: Banned / Length: 8937 feet / Time: 99:18 / Reason: indecency
Machine Gun McCain
Directed by Giuliano Montaldo / 1969 / Italy / IMDb
Date: 09-1970 / Rated: A / Length: 8602 feet / Time: 95:35 / Censored by 00:50 / Reason: violence
Post-November 1971 rating
In February 1984, Filmways received an M-rating for a 91-minute videotape.
Paranoia
Directed by Umberto Lenzi / 1969 / Italy – France / IMDb
July 1970 / Rated: Banned / Length: 7798 feet / Time: 86:39 / Reason: indecency and violence / Comment: Reconstructed version
Post-November 1971 rating
A 2412.10-meter (87:55) print was passed with an R-rating in July 1973. This was over a minute longer than the version that was banned in July 1970.
In the early 1980s, K&C Video released PARANOIA on tape.
Further reading
See also, A QUIET PLACE TO KILL (1970) in this database and the Directed by Umberto Lenzi page in the Film Censorship Database No. 1.
