The Night Porter

The major censorship story for the month concerns the accidental screening, for two weeks, of an uncensored copy of The Night Porter. Not one of the 16,000 people who saw the film complained to the theatre manager, though the censor's office did get 8 phone calls. Much has been written in the papers about the case. The Evening Post 5 July 1975 and The Dominion 5 July 1975 for example.

This comment by Peter Harcourt, broadcast by the National Programme, looks at another angle.

"I'd like to ride the hobbyhorse that's pulling the bandwagon, so to speak, and mention one thing about the strange case of The Night Porter. There seems to me to be one very good reason why it survived so long in its state of dreadful decadence: not only had nobody (except the film buffs) even heard of it before it got here, but the advertising didn't put too much emphasis on its alleged erotic content. It was labelled R18 with a discreet warning that parts of it might offend, but the publicity was fairly restrained. So its 16,000 viewers presumably saw it more or less in the normal course of events; and as none of them complained to the management I think we can take it they accepted it as a realistic portrayal of a condition of human life - unpleasant and unfortunate but undeniable. It hadn't received the benefit of such emotive descriptions as 'disgusting filth' or 'pornographic rubbish' or 'foreign perversion' or other stimulating propaganda phrases. So the people who wouldn't have gone to see it because they weren't interested, weren't drawn to it out of curiosity or prurient excitement. For two weeks it stood on its own merits, I suggest, and might well have passed unnoticed altogether but for the agitation of the pro-censorship lobby. The immediate result was to transform it entirely, as far as New Zealand is concerned. It became either an object of disgust (if you're for censorship) or a vandalised work of art (if you're against it). Whichever way you look at it, the film itself was the loser.

That's the tragedy of this whole thing. Films aren't allowed to be films, they have to be sex objects. Worse still, they are used as weapons to clobber the opposition - and a Last Tango or a Night Porter isn't a film anymore, it's an H-bomb. Most distressing of all, the noise is deafening and the smoke is obscuring the issue. One side claims to stand for decency, and wants to impose an absolute standard of morality - which they don't define because they can't, but which seems to be entirely subjective and arbitrary. The other side, accused of wanting to open the floodgates of corruption, actually seeks nothing more than a sensible liberalism, a less bureaucratic conception of what is liable to damage our moral health." - P Harcourt.

The pro-censorship lobby, in the form of Miss Patricia Bartlett, wrote a strongly-worded circular letter which was sent to several MPs and Ministers, describing scenes in the film in graphic detail, to such an extent that the Censor has said that the letter could be an indecent document. The Bartlett Letter, uncensored and complete.

Cleve Costello, the Truth film critic, has gone to war against film censorship. He is campaigning for liberalising censorship as it relates to adults after having seen the two versions of The Night Porter - cut and uncut.

He wants to hear from people who saw the film in its first two weeks in Wellington. He would like these people to tell him their impressions and whether they feel corrupted after their experiences.

His campaign is called CAFE - Campaign for Adult Films without Excision. Initial reaction has been most satisfying, with money and research facilities being offered. In letters explaining his policy he says: "The aim of this campaign is to seek by whatever lawful means may be available, essentially that which the film society movement in New Zealand has sought for many years, with much political promise and no legislative result, while in the view of many there has been retrogressive administrative action resulting from pressure from moral vigilantes. In short, that in a democratic, literate community, adults be treated as adults wherever they may see films. CAFE is in no way generated by the New Zealand Federation of Film Societies, but will consult with those bodies and any others interested."

Mr Costello is most pleased with the intense enthusiasm his campaign is generating amongst the average film-goer, people who previously were not really aware of how bad censorship has become in this country.

- reprinted from Sequence, August 1975.