There were two important events on the censorship front in the last month. First, the acting chief censor, Mr Bernie Tunnicliffe, passed the film Last Tango in Paris, then, the same Mr Bernie Tunnicliffe won his appeal against Mr Philip McHale who had been appointed to the job in May.

Last Tango in Paris has had quite a turbulent history in New Zealand. In 1973 the then chief censor, the late Mr Doug McIntosh, working under the old act, rejected the film on the grounds that it was contrary to public decency and that its exhibition would be undesirable in the public interest. The film went before the Appeal Board which at that time had Mr W H Carson as chairman, and Mr W Sheat and Miss M J Clark as members. A majority decision, Bill Sheat dissenting, upheld the censor's decision.

The film was again submitted to the censor early in 1974 with the same result. Over a year later, the Appeal Board, now comprising Mr A J L Martin as chairman and Mrs M R Nolan and Mr R A Sharpe, again in a majority decision, with Andrew Sharpe dissenting, the board upheld the censor's decision. In both cases, the dissenting members recommended that the film should be restricted to persons 20 years of age and over.

Now, under the new Act, the censor has found it suitable for screening to audiences 20 years of age and over. It has not been cut. In conmmenting on the decision, the president of the Wellington Film Society, Mr Lindsay Shelton, said; "We were expecting it to be approved under the new Act. I am looking forward to seeing the movie and judging it for myself". The Prime Minister said he had seen Last Tango on an overseas trip. He described it as a 'powerful' film, but had yet to be convinced that New Zealand needed it. He said, "It's the kind of thing that will certainly offend people and is of more interest to film societies than the general public."

The leader in The Dominion sunmmed it up by saying: "The Film Censor's decision to approve the film Last Tango in Paris for R20 screening has produced a predictable reaction. A campaigner against pornography believes the decision opens the flood gates, that because Last Tango gets through the censor, anything will. But will it? The new film legislation changes the censor's role from preventing the passages of a film that could be contrary to public morals, to a consideration of the dominant effect of the film itself. In some ways, the new emphasis gives the censor greater powers of control, in that he now can concentrate on the film itself rather than tease his mind about the sociological implications of the film."

The new chief censor, Mr Bernie Tunnicliffe, has been assistant chief censor since 1959. Speaking to the Evening Post he said that he looked forward to the more positive approach of the new Act and the possibility of more general films for family audiences. When he was deputy to the former chief censor, the late Mr Doug McIntosh, Mr Tunnicliffe had a reputation for being conservative. But this reputation now seems to be undeserved and is put down to a strict interpretation of the old law. His reputation within the industry has certainly changed since he has been acting film censor and criticism of him had disappeared since he had taken over the position.

Mr Tunnicliffe said although it was not his position to influence film-makers on the types of films, he hoped more would be available for family viewing. "We have been terribly lacking in films for general audiences, but these things move in cycles and I think the future looks quite promising. We certainly need these films as much as the sophisticated ones."

- Sequence, October 1977.