CANUTE, CUTTING, AND THE CENSOR

The annual report to Parliament on the work of the NZ Censor of Films [for the 1951-1952 year] has just been released. It makes very interesting reading indeed (the reference is H - 22 Department of Internal Affairs; Pages 19-23).

"The wave of violence which has been threatening to swamp the screen is beginning to halt, and in some p[laces even to recede - and censors in several British countries can take some credit for having played the roles of unspectacular but successful Canutes. The check to the portrayal of gratuitous violence was actually greater than is revealed statistically... Overall, there was over the year "an increase in the number of films brought into NZ, a slight decrease in the amount of violence portrayed on the screen, and the effects of the cold war on the subject matter, plus the effects of television".

There was an increase of 15% in the number of films, taking in all classes including shorts and newsreels, and an increase of 7% in total footage. Last year 4,603,173 feet of film were examined. 72 new feature films were British, including 2 from Australia, 1 from Canada, and 1 from NZ. 320 films came from the USA (as against 308 for last year), 7 from France, 6 from Russia, 3 from Italy, and other miscellaneous films.

There was less cutting than in the previous year. There were 270 cuts in 162 films (compared with in 181 films the previous year. Fewer British but rather more American films were affected. It may be noticed, said the report, that 30% of the cuts made in US films were in films of the Western type which are "perhaps more frequently cut than other varieties of screenplay in order to qualify them for U certificates." Certificates were refused to 3 films - a feature, and a short of a pornographic and pseudo-medical type, and another feature dealing with narcotics. There was an unsuccessful appeal against the last. There were also three other appeals, one against a Special A certificate, where the Censor's ruling was upheld.

"After three years of use" says the report in discussing the use of restricted certificates, "this type of certficate, enabling films of maturity to reach the adult public in their original state, would seem to have demonstrated its value beyond doubt. Indeed, if the restrictive certificates were not now available, it would be impossible for the censorship authorities to cope, except by banning and drastic cutting, with this new situation."

The situation is attributed by the Censor in part to the effects of competition between the television and cinema industries - with films having to go outside their former primarily "adolescent group" appeal, in order to sell decently. The group which was chiefly appealed to by films now finds a more comfortable but equally satisfying commodity in American television.    Westerns show this trend perhaps better than other films. Television can and does provide children's Westerns in large quantity and with great popularity - Hopalong Cassidy, for instance. Therefore, as the Censor's report comments, 20% of Westerns last year were so adult and realistic that they did not get U certificates, as compared with 13% in the previous year.

In general, the comment still stands that cutting from British films tends to be on the grounds of "sex" badly treated, and from American films, "violence" badly treated. "Sex" or, as the Censor explains it, "unduly suggestive or vulgar dialogue and situations" was relatively a minor reason for cutting - it accounted for 8% of the total cuts as against  85% for "violence".

"Complaints reaching the Censor's office from members of the public and from interested organisations were virtually non-existent. In this connection, it is worth putting on record that in the current controversy about the suitability of comics and the needs for supervision in this field, films have almost invariably favourably compared with comics . Nevertheless", adds the report, "there still remain a good many anomalies, inadequacies and out of date elements in the present film censorship legislation, particularly in the wording and application of certificates. The Department has been working for some time past on proposals designed to modify and modernise the whole film-making system."