The Arrow Thread

[will graham]

Well I wasn't going to buy the collection anyway. But I'll be angry at anyone who moans/cancels their pre order at Arrow about this like some people do with movies that get censored.
There really had no choice.

[Michael Brooke]

Nobody had any choice: the law is the law.

The BBFC's hands are tied by the 1978 Protection of Children Act, and Arrow's hands are tied by both that and the 1984 Video Recordings Act (which requires all fiction features to be BBFC-approved, which in turn requires them not to contain material that's potentially illegal).

In my own experience, when stuff is as legally open and shut as this, the BBFC is very helpful indeed, and almost always ends up letting more through than I'd expect them to - for instance, with the bestiality incident, they said that the final shot was OK because although the dog was still visibly, erm, excited, he was no longer physically touching the woman. I suspect if it had been purely down to me I'd have blacked that one out as well, just to be on the safe side.

[g053584398]

Originally Posted by Michael Brooke

I understand from the producer that that's what they proposed, but it was rejected.

Which is at least consistent: I had a similar issue with a few seconds of unsimulated bestiality in a supporting short film on Arrow's Borowczyk box, and when I discussed the legal problems with the BBFC they said that the problem wasn't so much the visual content per se as the fact that from a legal perspective it was a recording of a crime being committed, and therefore blurring or pixillating most likely wouldn't act as a defence in the event of prosecution.

(We didn't have the option of reframing as the dog ****ing the woman dominated the image, so we settled for blacking the shots out so that the editing rhythms would at least be retained.)

Oh I see. That is interesting.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by g053584398

I would have thought that digitally obscuring the offending image would have made more sense than reframing.

That's what Criterion UK's Zatoichi and the Fugitives does on their 25 film blu-ray set. A large blurry oval obscures, what would presumably be, a dying snake. In that case, it looks awful, I think I would have preferred it if they had just removed that very short moment.

[BAKA]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

That's what Criterion UK's Zatoichi and the Fugitives does on their 25 film blu-ray set. A large blurry oval obscures, what would presumably be, a dying snake. In that case, it looks awful, I think I would have preferred it if they had just removed that very short moment.

This is the first I've heard of this! How disappointing.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by BAKA

This is the first I've heard of this! How disappointing.

It happens at 6 mins 21 secs in on Zatoichi and the Fugitives. I have no idea if other films in the UK Zatoichi set are also affected (I've only also watched Zatoichi the Outlaw and Zatoichi Challenged which were on the same bd disc). According to the usually accurate dvdcompare site, Fugitives is uncut on UK blu-ray but that's not true at all as I've seen it first hand.

[g053584398]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

That's what Criterion UK's Zatoichi and the Fugitives does on their 25 film blu-ray set. A large blurry oval obscures, what would presumably be, a dying snake. In that case, it looks awful, I think I would have preferred it if they had just removed that very short moment.

I have the dual-format set from the USA which must presumably be uncut?

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by g053584398

I have the dual-format set from the USA which must presumably be uncut?

I should imagine so (although I haven't seen it). Americans probably don't get too upset over a snake that died back in 1968. Try looking at 6 mins 21 secs in on your Fugitives bd to see if there's a large blurred oval on the screen. I'd be surprised if there was.

[g053584398]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

I should imagine so (although I haven't seen it). Americans probably don't get too upset over a snake that died back in 1968. Try looking at 6 mins 21 secs in on your Fugitives bd to see if there's a large blurred oval on the screen. I'd be surprised if there was.

I'll probably take a look at the Blu-ray over the next few days just to see. I haven't watched any of the films yet and just spot-checked a couple of the films.

[Susan Foreman]

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It's a close up of a lizard, so I would suggest Fulci's 'Lizard In A Woman's Skin'