What censors disapproved of in the early to mid-1900s seems trivial compared to what we can watch on public television any day of the week. Movies across the world were banned left and right for saying words such as “hell” or “damn.” Anything even remotely sexual was often banned in many countries or the censors demanded that the scenes be cut from the movie. If a country disagreed with how their history or people were portrayed, the film would be quickly destroyed or prevented from entering the country altogether.
Religion, however, was the biggest reason for many films being banned in different cities, states, provinces, and entire countries. Even the Church of Rome had its own censors who stayed on the lookout for films to ban to their congregation, making it difficult for people to guess what they were and were not allowed to watch unless their church and the newspapers made a timely announcement.
It Advocated Peace
It was 1952 and roughly 17,000 Australians were fighting in the Korean war when newspapers announced the upcoming release of a new documentary film called “They Chose Peace.” Shortly after the announcement, Chief Secretary Kelly prohibited all public viewing of the film. His reasoning was that it did not preserve the “good manners and decorum” of the Australian populace.
What made this film so threatening to Mr. Kelly and the Australian government was that it “advocate[d] peace and expose[d] the efforts of both Liberal and Labor politicians to wreck a Youth Carnival.”
In one of the film’s scenes, marchers held banners saying, “Build homes, schools and hospitals!” The Australian government stated that in order to release the film to the public, this scene, as well as several others, would need to be cut.
Fortunately, there was a loophole to the ban and the heavy censorship. While all public showings of the film were prohibited, the film could still be shown in private company. [1 and 2]
Way Too Hot For Catholics
There is no denying that Rita Hayworth was hot stuff back in the day, but the Catholic Church felt that maybe the lady was a bit too hot for their flock.
In 1954, following the release of “Miss Sadie Thompson,” the Catholic Film Centre announced that the film was forbidden to Catholics because it was a story of immortality.
In the movie, Rita Hayworth played the role of a nightclub entertainer. She sang and moved seductively to a crowd of horny military men who whooped and carried on. In came the pious Mr. Davidson who tried to save Sadie’s soul. Needless to say, Sadie would not break down for the religious life and Mr. Davidson lost his uptight convictions in the process. [3 and 4]
Don Juan Got Old
Don Juan was the infamous seducer of the Spanish ladies. In an early legend, he was said to have seduced a young noblewoman and afterwards killed her father who was trying to avenge the woman’s honor. He had since been cast in numerous literary works and his character eventually made it into the movies.
In “The Private Life of Don Juan” (1934), Don Juan, played by Douglas Fairbanks Sr., was portrayed as an aging, sickly man who seemed to have lost his zest for the lecherous life. However, someone was busily pretending to be the real Don Juan and the imposter was killed by a jealous husband.
Don Juan realized that this was his chance to reinvent himself. He renamed himself Captain Mariano and took a six-month vacation, but that proved to be too boring for Don Juan. Soon he was back to trying to woo young women.
Although the young Don Juan was a legend among the ladies, the aged Don Juan proved to be unwanted among the younger women and he returned to his home in Seville.
While the plot of this film seems rather benign, it was banned in Spain with “no reason being given.” One can only guess that there were men who feared their own aging or felt that Don Juan should never have been portrayed as a lonely, middle-aged man. [5, 6, and 7]
Mother Nature Was Too Gruesome
Everyone knows Disney for its cartoon characters, but Disney also grew in popularity due to its live action documentaries that began in 1948. These documentaries taught families about far away lands and animals. They brought nature to the big screen.
After releasing two successful documentaries, Disney made “The Vanishing Prairie” in 1954. The film showed prairie birds and animals through the seasons. It was a huge success, except for one small segment of the film.
In the summer of 1954, newspapers around the world announced that the film was banned in New York State. The offending part of the film showed the birth of a buffalo calf and the censor board for the state felt that the scene would upset some viewers or incite, of all things, criminal acts.
After much wrangling, the censor board did allow the public viewing of the documentary, stating that aside from the live birth, the film had many positive, educational qualities. [8 and 9]
Not Suitable for the Women
Some movies were simply unfit to be shown to women, at least according to the Australian Parliament House in 1922.
The big whoop was about an American film called “Fit to Win,” a movie that was created in 1919 under the guidance of doctors, scientists, and sociologists for American soldiers. The sole purpose of the film was to prevent the spread of venereal diseases.
The plot was a moral one, typical of the times. It involved five young men who enlisted in the Army. Four of the men visited the brothels which led to their ruin. Two of them got syphilis and the other two died in the fields of Flanders. The only soldier that did not visit the brothels remained faithful to his sweetheart, became a captain, and eventually returned home to marry his true love.
In spite of the well intentions of the film, the women of Australia were banned from seeing it as well as any young man under the age of eighteen. [10 and 11]
A Clash of Religious Beliefs
The story of David and Bathsheba is a well-known Old Testament story, so it was no surprise that Twentieth Century-Fox turned the love story into a movie back in 1951.
Unlike many other productions of biblical stories, “David and Bathsheba” had an almost real feel to it. The character of David, played by Gregory Peck, was not just mythic, but also very human. He had his high points, but he also had his mortal faults.
With such a well-known actor in the lead and a story straight out of the Christian religion, you might be wondering what country would have banned this movie.
It was Singapore. The then colony’s film censor took into account that the Muslim community objected to the film on religious grounds and decided against allowing it to be shown to the public. [12 and 13]
Because Ghosts Are Not Real
Set in Wales, “The Halfway House” is a little known classic in the realm of supernatural films. The premise of the story is that a group of travelers are caught in a storm and take shelter in an old inn. Each character has a dark secret that haunts him or her, and the innkeeper is rather disturbing.
The film was made in 1944 and contains the World War II propaganda of the times. Public showing of the movie was banned in Yugoslavia in 1945 because “it deals with a ghost story, which is not in keeping with the [Y]ugoslavians’ idea of educating people in the study of the real things of life.” [14 and 15]
Quit Smoking, But Not Right Now
Hypnotism is one method some smokers use to try and kick the smoking habit. A smoker can schedule one or several sessions with a local hypnotist or he can test out the online versions found for free on websites such as YouTube.
While hypnosis has been in use as a tool for smoking cessation for the past several decades, in 1968 Britain’s Independent Television Authority was overly cautious on deciding whether or not to allow an anti-smoking film to play on commercial television.
Apparently the film showed a hypnotist demonstrating the hypnosis he used to cure patients of their addiction. The television authority worried that the scene might hypnotize the viewers which inevitably might have caused them to give up cigarettes. [16]
All That Shouting and Carrying On
Members of the Baptist Church decided to ban “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” from being shown in Nashville, Tennessee back in 1966. The classic movie, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, was shunned simply because the police sergeant, a Baptist Church deacon and a Sunday school teacher, claimed that the movie violated the city’s code that prohibited “indecent exposure and profanity.”
The religious outrage was so great that the police were ordered to raid the cinema where the movie was being shown, confiscate the film, and arrest the manager.
“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” was admittedly quite controversial for its time and was the first movie to be rated for “no one under the age of 18,” unless they have an adult with them, by the Motion Picture Association of America. It was also the first time that the British Board of Film Classification allowed a movie to use the word “bugger.” [17 and 18]
Failed to Separate the Colors
Racism was as ugly in 1948 as it is today, and it showed in the decisions on which films were allowed to be publicly viewed. When “A Song is Born,” starring Danny Kaye, was released the Memphis, Tennessee censor banned the public showing of the movie.
The reasons for the ban were simple and ugly. It was considered a “rough, bawdy, noisy picture” that showed New Orleans as the birthplace of jazz and not Memphis. To top off all the childishness, the censor also objected to the film showing Caucasian and African American musicians putting on a performance at the same time and on the same stage. [19]
