DRUMMER OF VENGEANCE (aka: DOOMSDAY; DAY OF VENGEANCE) (1971)
Classified ‘AA’ for theatrical release in 1974 after the following cuts:
R5 - Reduce the wheel torture of girl, leaving just one close shot of her head and reducing length of incident.
Reduce flashback of rape of woman to establishing shot only.
Reduce blood dripping on floor from wounded man.
No subsequent release.
Only 79m ( MFB erroneously has 89m but that doesn’t work based on footage quoted) which is at least 10m short of the European DVD releases. SWIB entry refers to a 1974 re-edited version which could be this.
Not released as A Eye for an Eye as stated in the entry for this.
This is also missing from Staig and Williams’ book, possibly because the MFB have it down erroneously as a British film!
Classified ‘A’ for theatrical release in 1968 after the following cuts:
DR3 - Remove the whole of Fletcher’s attack on Maria.
Reduce to a minimum the sounds and shots of a man beating Maria.
Reduce to a minimum the fight between this man and Fletcher; and remove all shots of the latter beating his opponent’s head against a rock.
DR5 - Reduce to a minimum the incident in which Wallace is beaten up and shot, including shots in which he is only tied up.
UK theatrical release ran 102m.
Italian version runs 111m so appear to be distributor cuts (abridged print submitted) in addition to censor cuts.
Abridged 90m (Pal) version classified ‘15’ for DVD in 1993.
Abridged 94m (NTSC) version classified ‘12’ for DVD in 2010. (NB: DVD Compare site says this is the 111m version but BBFC has this as short version - Eureka release).
I have the Explosive Media DVD as I read that the Eureka one was cut.
THE FIGHTING FIST OF SHANGHAI JOE ( UK cinema title TO KILL OR TO DIE) 1973)
Classified ‘X’ for theatrical release in 1975, as To Kill or to Die, after the following cuts:
R1 - Remove close shot of hand pierced by fork.
Remove close shot of man’s wrist, bloody from off-screen injury.
R2 - Remove close shot of Joe kicking man’s bloody face.
Remove all but one shot of hanging man in which only his feet are visible.
R3 - Reduce the fight between Joe and Cannibal, removing close shot of Cannibal’s bloody face.
R4 - Reduce mass shooting of first man in bar to an absolute minimum.
Remove all sight and implication of eye gouging.
At the end of the reel, remove sight of blood dripping to the ground from Jack’s chest.
R5 - Remove close shot of bloody scalp in box.
Remove close shot of man’s bloody wrist after his hand is cut off.
Remove sight of man cauterising cut off wrist in fire.
Remove slow motion close shot of blood splashing as man is jabbed in the chest.
The ‘Face to Face’ Eureka DVD (2011) is the longest version. It’s the same print used on the Italian DVD (La nostra vita in film 100) (2003) and runs 107 mins (PAL). The Eureka DVD also has translated subtitles rather than the lazy dubtitles used on the Explosive Media DVD. The film was distributed in the UK by Butchers Film Service.
Classified ‘X’ for theatrical release in 1971 after the following cuts:
R1 - Remove the whole incident in which Garringto lassoos a man and causes him to crash against furniture, walls, etc and then shoots him dead.
Shorten the sequence in which Garringo hoists a man up by his feet and nearly drowns him.
R2 - Drastically reduce the sequence in which Garringo fights two men and kills one of them.
Reduce the scene in which Bill, his arms tied to a branch, brutally kicks and disables Garringo.
R3 - Remove the incident in which Pete is assaulting Nancy, uses her as a shield, and is killed by Garringo.
R4 - Remove the scene in which John tells a soldier to ride away, shoots him and laughs.
R5 - Drastically reduce the sequence in which John pleads for his life, is repeatedly shot and dies in agony.
UK theatrical release cut down to 84m from 92m. Having not seen this - the DVD is in the queue in my cupboard - I am unsure whether the OTT censor cuts account for all of the missing footage.
Staig and Williams seem to miss this one as well from their Appendix although it was reviewed in the January 1972 MFB. The BBFC record 89m but the MFB have 84m possibly indicating about 5m of distributor trims after 3m of censor cuts (many distributor cuts were made post BBFC classification - once the censors rating had been given the distributor only had to resubmit if they added footage, not if they cut it).
Classified ‘A’ for theatrical release in 1967 after the following cuts:
R6 & 7 - Remove the whole of the beating up of Norton when he is held and helpless, and the torture with the knife (including sounds).
Cuts restored for ‘PG’ rated video (1987) and DVD (2003) releases. The 2003 release is a German print with a German title recorded by the BBFC. It runs 1m40s longer than the video - probably extra credits or exit play outs.
Classified ‘X’ for theatrical release in 1972, as Blood River, after the following cuts:
R5 - Reduce to a minimum the scenes in which Cat is tortured by being “dunked” in a well, especially removing close shots of him floundering, and fighting for his life.
After close-up of red hot poker, remove shots of bearded man screaming and the sound of his screams and the sizzling of the poker.
R6 - Reduce to a flash the shot of the man with knife (thrown by Cat) in his throat.
Reduce the beating-up of the guard by San Antonio’s men.
Reduce the shooting of San Antonio in both wrists and Cat’s making him crawl to the burning fuses.
Abridged print submitted and UK theatrical release only 97m per the MFB or 98m per the BBFC (from 113m). Of this, the BBFC cuts probably last only about 1m. Although a lot of cuts listed, several of them are quite minor in length - only about 7s to cut out the poker attack for example - and as usual seem excessive for an X rated movie.
Very late release, only released in UK following the two Trinity movies ( Ace High the sequel released in 1969 - see earlier post in thread). One of the biggest problems for UK critics assessing these movies is the fact that many of them were released out of order and therefore assessing which are the more original and groundbreaking must have been difficult (if the critics cared at all that is).
The UK poster actually promotes it as starring “The Trinity boys”, so it might have been a bit of a shock to anyone expecting another knockabout comedy.
According to Staig and Williams, God Forgives, I Don’t was banned in Australia - I don’t know how that country compared to the UK/US in terms of censorship generally.
This thread is a constant source of revelations, not least regarding films I had no idea were ever released in British cinemas.
It also makes me wonder why distributors picked some of these films up for UK release while ignoring other, better ones. I’ve seen Garringo on DVD and found it eminently forgettable - apart from the superb title music.
In regard to film censorship and the banning of ‘God Forgives… I Don’t’: Australia is historically more heavily regulated than the UK. Unlike the BBFC, the ACB and its predecessors are government entities and therefore subject to direct political interference. Some prominent banned titles in Oz included: ‘La Dolce Vita’, ‘Viridiana’, ‘The Silence’, ‘Blowup’.
The BBFC was very ‘pro-art house’ and would never ban anything by an arty European director. Not least because they might be criticised in The Times or The Telegraph. On the other hand, horror movies, spaghetti westerns were considered ‘trash’ which they could censor with impunity.
Classified ‘A’ for theatrical release in 1964 after the following cuts:
R3 - Reduce the whipping of Donna (sic. – Gitana) to one blow.
R4 - The sequence in which a man manhandles and rapes a girl should be reduced so that only a short struggle is seen. She can be seen afterwards lying on the ground when Kid comes to her rescue.
HEADS I KILL…TAILS YOU’RE DEAD (aka: THEY CALL ME HALLELUJAH) (1971)
Classified ‘X’ for theatrical release in 1972 after the following cut:
R2 - Remove close shot of Ramirez’ wound.
No MFB review (so missed by Staig & Williams) but was reviewed in trade paper Cinema TV Today on 25/11/72. Assume it got a limited release in a few fleapits.
Yes - but you’re right he’s not called Nero. It’s ages since I saw this - does he pretend to be Nero? Otherwise the BBFC scribe who typed under their Register of Exceptions must have confused Leon for Nero.
These BBFC exception reports have quite a lot of typos or wrong character names. Often caused cos the person who types up the exception report can’t decipher the original hand writing. See the one above for Gunfighters at Casa Grande.
One thing I do remember about this film is when Quinn is told to rebuild the town, the first thing he does is ask the governor for an architect. Hooray! In Return of the Seven, Emilio Fernandez forced about 100 peasants into slavery to build a massive church as monument to his son. But there is no sign of any architect. So, who’s running this construction for him!!
