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Altered Film Classifications On Posters In Australia

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  •                                     #12. Whistling In The Dark ( 1941 ). Although previously discussed on an earlier thread I will include this film again here  for any new members or those who may not have originally seen it or for any people that may not remember it. All original classified newspaper advertisements that I have located in  1942, 1946, 1948 and 1950 all have the Not Suitable For Children or ( A ) rating appearing on them all.


  •        # 13. No Time To Die ( 1958 ). Titled Tank Force in the U.S.A. but released as No Time To Die in the U.K. as well as Australia. The Australian daybill pictured above, and the only one I could locate, for whatever reason had a For General Exhibition snipe attached and the original Not Suitable For Children rating blanked out. The newspaper advertisement appearing above, along with one other I have located, have the  Not Suitable For Children classifications appearing on them. It would be interesting to see any other images of any Australian posters of this title to see what rating appears on them.

  •      # 14. The Fast Lady ( 1962 ). Both copies of the daybill and the Australian one sheet originally had Not Suitable For Children printed on them but only the daybill has had a For General Exhibition snipe replacement attached over the original censorship classification. The two The Fast Lady newspaper advertisements both were printed With ( G ), the For General Exhibition abbreviation, printed on them. The daybill and the one sheet were the only images I could locate so I would be interested in seeing any other examples of these two styles, to see what classifications appear on them.
  •     

       Return From The Ashes ( 1965 ). The daybill of Return From The Ashes seems a simple case of originally a printer's error. There was no way the film would have received a For General Exhibition rating at any time.

  • THE PURPLE HILLS ( 1961 ), Previously mentioned within the forum regarding the mention of black and white  on this Colour U.S. released film. I have now now included it here for the Not Suitable For Children classification covering the original printed For Genereal Exhibition classification.

  • edited February 2017
                                                                                                                                                       

    Not strictly for this thread but this image of Walk Tall ( 1960 ) is being used to make a point. Robert L. Lippert's Associated Producers Inc. Productuions, released by 20th Century Fox from 1959 to the mid 1960's produced a string of 'b' films during this time. Most of the films were filmed in black and white but some were shot in colour. It appears a couple, at least, of the films were shown in Australia in black and white, most likely to cut costs Why the black and white sticker on The Purple Hills ( 1961 ) and not the Walk Tall poster is a mystery.
  • edited February 2017

    # 17. The Cockeyed Miracle ( 1946 ). The Australian daybill that appears above, along with the Australian one sheet have a snipe applied, altering the censorship rating of '' Not Suitable For Children'' to '' For General Exhibition''; Looking at the film one would think the film is a ''For General Exhibition'' film if there ever was one. All the extensive newspaper advertising I have sighted had the '' For General Exhibition'' or ''G'' rating applied, except for one advertisement with just the name of the film and a ''Not Suitable For Children'' rating, which I believe was just a mistake. It appears to me the printer's of the two posters applied the incorrect rating, which was then spotted and the amended classification snipes were applied. It was possible it was just a case of wrong information was given to the two printers in the first place.



  • The Jungle Princess ( 1936 ). Most likely a 1940's re-release daybill and the original printed on the poster  ''Not Suitable For General Exhibition'' Australian censorship rating has been covered over  by a '' For General Exhibition'' snipe.




    Nurse On Wheels ( 1963 ). For General Exhibition snipe placed over original printed Not Suitable For Children censorship rating.

    With all the examples that are regularly turning up, one has to wonder how many would have been legitimate changes, due to successful appeals from the importer / distributors and perhaps some printer's errors were involved, compared to how many may have had snipes added illegally by the theatre owners at the time of release at their cinemas, It was suggested once, if my memory holds up, that perhaps copies in the hand of the general public years late were altered for some reason on another.
  • edited April 2018
        
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Virginia City ( 1940) rare long daybill from John's collection had a ''Not suitable for general exhibition'' Australian censorship rating originally printed on the poster, but someone at some time or another has attached a ''For general exhibition'' snipe to the poster. The two more mainstream Australian newspaper advertisements, one from 1940 and one from 1941, have the original rating appearing on them. The majority of other advertisements I managed to locate also had the ''Not suitable for general exhibition'' rating. The ones that I did find with the ''For general exhibition'' or ''G'' rating appearing on them were from advertisements placed by either suburban or country cinema owners. These were mainly very small ad versions with usually only the film's title and the stars name and very little else used, and often they got the ratings, intentionally or unintentionally incorrect.                                                                                                                                                                                           
  • I saw another one the other day...darn it can't remember now!
  • Bogie with that pencil moustache is an international travesty


  •  

    Fast Company ( 1953 ) Australian daybills and an Australian one sheet. The unknown printer of the Australian one sheet and the vast majority of Australian newspaper advertisements located from when it was released in Australia, indicate that ''Not suitable for children'' was the correct classification. It certainly appears to have been just a mistake at W.E. Smith's with the wrong classification applied to the poster, then altered when they realized their mistake..


  • edited June 2018

    Well spotted Mark. With the Face In The Night Australian daybill poster appearing to have two censorship ratings printed on it I believe the following occurred. As was the case with the Mr.Topaz Australian one sheet that featured on "'Hondo's This and That'' thread on May 7, 2018, where a U.K. 'U' certificate was also included, along with the Australian 'Not Suitable For Children' rating, it was just a  simple case of a printer's error being made by F. Cunninghame when copying the U.K. artwork. No proof as I cannot locate any U.K. artwork of Face In The Night , but I am convinced that my explanation is correct. 


  • That is a DAMN fine Aussie One Sheet :D
  • That is a DAMN fine Aussie One Sheet :D
    I wonder where It resides ?
  • If you look closely there is an X just next to R rating. Doesn't appear on the re-release daybill though.





  • Flesh Gordon ( 1974 ) U.S.A ( no " X '' ) one sheet  and Australian one sheet, with a very faint '' X  '' appearing on the poster. Although rated ''X '' in the USA no sign of this rating on any U.S.posters sighted of Flesh Gordon. Interesting.
  • HONDO said:
    That is a DAMN fine Aussie One Sheet :D
    I wonder where It resides ?
    In a home where it is loved  =)
  • Mark said:
    If you look closely there is an X just next to R rating. Doesn't appear on the re-release daybill though.



    Never noticed this before.  And those two big yellow rectangles are ugly and annoying!  Such an oddly chosen colour.

    Is the R stamped on or printed?
  • R is printed. I didn't realise there were two versions until recently. I actually sold the other as orig release in the past.


  • The other daybill version.
  • Notice the title now influenced by Star Wars space crawl style logo.


  • ''Johnny Frenchman'' ( 1945 ) Australian daybill produced for the 1946 release in Australia. It appears something has been covered over here. The normal general exhibition rating was officially  '' For General Rxhibition'', in the form it appears above on the right. Australian newspaper advertisements for the film's release show the film had a ''For General Exhibition'' rating. Interestingly on the daybill poster it has a ''Suitable For General Exhibition'' wording rating appearing on it. I cannot recollect seeing this classification version used on any other Australian posters. It would be interesting to know what information was covered over.

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    First Man Into Space ( 1959 ). Original Australian daybill with the printed Not suitable for chilfren classification printed on it, and the same designed daybill with a For general exhibition snipe attached to cover over the original printed rating. As Australian newspaper advertising placed for the films original release including the one above had For general exhibition credited on them, it certainly appears that this lesser classification was the correct one. 

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    Dead Of Night ( 1945 ). Original Australian daybill with Suitable Only For Adults censorship rating printed on it and the same daybill with a Not Suitable For General Exhibition rating, for whatever reason covering over the original rating.


    The original Australian one sheet has the original Suitable Only For Adults rating printed on the poster.



    Australian newspaper advertisement from 1946 with the slightly different classification wording for Suitable Only for Adults.
    Again the question arises of why the change in censorship rating on one of the daybills ?

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    The House On Sorority Row ( 1983 ) original Australian daybill. The film doesn't appear to have ever been banned in Australia and the film was passed by the Australian censor with an M certificate in 1983. As it certainly appears that the poster was originally printed with an R certificate rating and then blacked out, and then  the correct M censorship printed beside it, one could reasonably assume then that a printer's error had occured.

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    Framed ( 1975 ) Australian daybill. Classified by the Australian with a R certificate March 1 1976.With the original printing on the poster of an M certificate,  then altered to R, it certainly appears to me that that another printer's error had occured here.



  • Escape From The Jungle ( 1971 ) ( Original South African country of origin title Z.E.B.R.A. ).

    What would appear to have occured here is that the film, submitted under the title Escape From The Jungle, was originally passed by the Australian Censorship Department with a NRC rating on April 1 1973. Later on that year the film was reclassified on December 1 1973, this time with a G certificate with the same running time.

    I believe that the Australian daybill was printed after the original passing of the film, with the original NRC classification appearing on it. One would think that the film wasn't released due to an an appeal which was successful in having the classification reduced to the more friendly for children rating of G. The film appears to have been screened in Australian cinemas during the December school holiday in 1973, with a G certificate snipe attached to the daybill for the screenings.  

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    Pygmalion ( 1938) Australian 1950's re-release daybill.

    I am thinking that the poster was originally printed with a For General Exhibition rating, then likely covered over when the mistake was recognised?

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    HONDO said:





    First Man Into Space ( 1959 ). Original Australian daybill with the printed Not suitable for chilfren classification printed on it, and the same designed daybill with a For general exhibition snipe attached to cover over the original printed rating. As Australian newspaper advertising placed for the films original release including the one above had For general exhibition credited on them, it certainly appears that this lesser classification was the correct one. 




     The censorship rating in the U.K. was a X certificate. This would leave one then to believe that some heavy censorship occurred in Australia, particually when comparing the Australian and the U.K. poster images.

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    Vera Cruz ( 1954 ) rated as being Not Suitable For Children.



    Australian press sheet with three images all marked as being Not Suiitable For Children, yet the information censorship details have been crossed out and a G. - For General Exhibition stamp has been added to the press sheet.

    All located Sydney and Melbourne original newspaper advertising has the rating as being Not Suitable For Children.
  •        The Ladykillers ( 1955 ) original daybill and one sheet posters printed for the 1956 Australian first release.

    (Trove)
    A rare sighted daybill from the same printing with the printed For General Exhibition film classification covered over with a Not Suitable For Children censorship snipe. All the numerous newspaper advertisements printed and displayed for the 1950's release that I have located on Trove do show the classification as being the Not Suitable For Children one.

    It certainly would confirm that the daybill and one sheet posters were printed with the incorrect film classification on them. Bruce sold six daybills and one Australian one sheet, with all his seven images displaying the unaltered For General Exhibition ratings on them. 

    Interestingly the daybill and one sheet film posters printed for the Australian 1970's re-release have a NRC classification rating appearing on them. The NRC rating of course replaced the Not Suitable For Children one in November 1971.The rating these days is PG.
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