Skip to content

We want it scary...but not TOO scary!

1468910

Comments

  • Dr. Crippen ( 1953 ) U.K.quad with in a bedroom scene depicted. I don't have an image of what the Australian daybill looked like as originally produced but the daybill was altered for censorship purposes in New Zealand. Someone with a pen has drawn a blanket to cover the couple's bodies. It would be interesting to see exactly what is shown under the added blanket, as drawn on the original daybill. Notice the Australian poster artist at Robert Burton has made Donald Pleasence a younger, more handsome man with a lot more hair. Also of interest is the Sir Donald Wolfit billing appearing on the Australian daybill and not on the British quad.

  • I have the daybill - let me see if I can dig it out.
  • Doctor Blood's Coffin ( 1961 ). Take a look at the original country of origin U.K. quad and also the U. S. 3 sheet and then compare it to the lacklustre Australian daybill. The film carrying only a Not Suitable For Children censorship classification would suggest this horror film was heavily censored and on checking this, it was the case as six minutes were removed by the Australian censor from the original running time. The terrified images of Hazel Court replaced by a normal everyday non threatened image. The U.S. wording remained but the monster had to go. 

  • David And Bathsheba ( 1951 ). Censorship Canadian style.


  • HAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

    That one really cracked me up!

  • U.S.A. insert and the Australian daybill posters of Eye Of The Devil ( 1967 ).

  •  Australian daybill and U.S. insert posters of Theatre Of Blood ( 1973 ). As in the case of Eye Of The Devil displayed only recently, the Australian censor didn't approve of any tampering with human skulls.

    For those who couldn't make out Pancho's previous image the U.S. insert contains an image on the left of the poster showing a rampaging lynch mob and a hanging scene on the right side as we look directly at it.  

  • U.S. insert and Australian daybill poster images of Signpost To Murder ( 1964 ). There was still in 1964 a distinct dislike by the Australian censor of threatening knives.

  • The Vampire ( 1957 ) original U.S. insert and the tamer Australian daybill and one sheets, that are minus the green vampire images and the "It claws...it drains blood! tagline. ''A new kind of thrill'' is what Australian audiences had to look forward to. 

    Note U.S. material as well as Australian used here.

  • Pancho said:
    I have the daybill - let me see if I can dig it out.
    No luck with finding the Dr Crippen Australian daybill ?


  • Original 1965 U.K.Quad.

    U.S.A. one sheet ( left )  and Australian one sheet ( right} of Hysteria ( 1965 ). The Australian version is minus blood on hand and features a slightly more covered up female.

  • The Ghoul ( 1975 ). U.K. one sheet on left and the Australian daybill on the right. Missing from the daybill is the scene with the knife embedded in a man's face and the woman's right hand removed in the bottom right hand corner of the poster. The knife in the head scene most likely was edited out of the Australian release of the film by order of the Australian censor, but it is hard to understand why the woman's outstretched hand was removed.

  • Pancho said:
    I have the daybill - let me see if I can dig it out.
    Found it!

  • Nice mark!
  • edited July 2017
    Pancho said:
    Pancho said:
    I have the daybill - let me see if I can dig it out.
    Found it!


    Thanks Mark for your effort in locating the Australian release daybill. One now has to ask the question of why the censorship occurred at all in New Zealand?

  • Maybe the hand on her neck tricked the censors into thinking this was a more violent image than it is? I guess if you squint, you might think that she's making a fist to fight him off?

    I know...I'm totally reaching!

  • Pancho said:
    Maybe the hand on her neck tricked the censors into thinking this was a more violent image than it is? I guess if you squint, you might think that she's making a fist to fight him off?

    I know...I'm totally reaching!



    A thought, but only assuming the new Zealand film censor wasn't paying attention during the viewing of the film. The young woman, played by Samantha Eggar, portrayed Dr.Crippen's young lover in the film. In real life this character lived and it was Crippen's wife that he was found guilty of murdering and was hanged for.

  •                                                                                                                     Compulsion ( 1959 ), Top left to right U.S. insert Australian one sheet, daybill & just above a used in New Zealand altered Australian daybill.

    The attempted rape scene, showing within one of the spectacles that appears on the U.S. insert was apparently considered unsuitable by the Australian censor and was replaced on the Australian one sheet by words  CinemaScope Color by De Luxe. The colour mention is incorrect  as the film was originally filmed and shown in black and white. This error was corrected on the Australian daybill by an attached black and white snipe covering up the Color by De Luxe.

    Now the New Zealand used Australian daybill is a mess. The Australian Not Suitable For Children censorship was crudely covered up with a texta pen, along with the wording of black and white, and as a bonus for anyone owing this daybill, some covering up by texta of just some plain yellow background, in the other lense image, for it appears no reason whatsoever. This daybill isn't one you would want in your collection for sure.


  • Don't think I've posted this comparison before - Australian and NZ daybills:
  • The Garment Jungle ( 1957 ). The Australian daybill on the right has had the hand holding the knife image removed. Mainly copied from the U.S. insert above, but with the running man and woman image, along with the wording on the daybill poster courtesy of the above U.S. one sheet. The orange coloured area on the daybill would have been better served had it been the blue colour as well. The tampering making the daybill another less desirable daybill. 

  • Pancho said:
    Don't think I've posted this comparison before - Australian and NZ daybills:
    That's great!
  • The Fiend Who Walked The West ( 1958 ). No green ''kooky killer with the baby face'' images allowed in Australia.


  • Pancho said:
    Why'd they close her mouth?
    Cause she looked like she dropped her sandwich?






  • Great thread, Lawrence!
  • edited September 2017

    Thanks a lot Ted. Pancho originally started the thread and I just continued on sharing material on poster censorship alterations, that at times bordered on the rediculous. Here's another example of the Australian censorship department at work. The Australian censors seemed to have been kept very busy, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. When they returned home after work they knew that they had made Australia a better place to live in, with their participation in keeping the country morally cleaner, through the now more filtered films that the general public would soon get to see.

     Original U.K. one sheet                                               Australian one sheet The offending image.

     Even more exposed female flesh on this other U.K. poster. 


  • Diary Of A Madman ( 1963 ). Original U.S.A. insert and Australian daybill.

    The missing material from the Australian poster version, taken from a much clearer U.S. one sheet.

    Although the above wording doesn't appear on the Australian daybill it does appear on the Australian one sheet.

  • First two images posted recently by Pancho. Australian daybill for Australian release then the daybill printed for New Zealand distribution with N.Z.censorship alteration. Now finally an original unaltered daybill image of the New Zealand style daybill which has recently surfaced on Bruce's website.

  • Original U.K. country of origin U.K. quad poster.

    U.S.A. one sheet and Insert posters.

    Australian daybill.


    Frankenstein Created Woman ( 1967 ) daybill is an interesting poster, as an image of the female creation doesn't appear on the Australian poster at all. Apparently it was deemed  to be too sexy to have this image of a main story line participant appear. Posters from around the World at the time all had an image of the female monster appearing on the posters, but not little old Australia. Our censors at the time were making sure people wouldn't be offended or corrupted by this unsavoury material.

  • My favorite has always been the Italian, one of which (a 39x55 2Fogli) finally came into my possession a few years ago.


Sign In or Register to comment.






Logo

For movie poster collectors who know...

@ 2021 Vintage Movie Posters Forum, All rights reserved.

Contact us

info@vintagemoviepostersforum.com

Get In Touch