by Darrel_Griffin » 07 Jul 2020 14:37
I have checked the UK DVD again, and although it is difficult to be certain what material is being referred to in the details of the cuts, I think some or all of it has been restored for this release.
Note the timings below are for the UK Odeon DVD (25fps PAL).
Reel 4:
I found some shots which seem to match the description (during the scene running 28:30 - 29:25).
Reel 5:
During the second part of a lesbian sex scene (running 35:02 - 37:10), I found a shot which is possibly (but probably not) the one described (36:50 - 37:03). I cannot see why this shot would have been censored, as it seems less strong than other shots appearing earlier in the scene. Also, during this scene, at 36:13 there is a sudden jump in the music. For this scene, apart from at the start, there seems to be no motivated sound, only musical score. So it would have been possible to cut some of the soundtrack without worrying about loss of sync with the picture, although the sudden jump in the music is still a bit jarring. Anyway it seems likely that the censored scene is still missing, and that a corresponding amount of soundtrack was also cut, but from an earlier part of the scene, allowing the end of the scene to transition more smoothly.
Reel 6:
There are definitely shots which match the description (during the scene running 48:25 - 49:30), so at least some or more likely all of this cut section has been reinstated.
Reel 8:
I couldn't find this at all, at least not as described. The character of 'Jane' is played by Maria St. Clare, who as far as I can tell does not appear in any sex scenes in the movie, although she is nude is some scenes. However, the BBFC might have been mistaken in their identification of the character. 'Jane' visits an unnamed friend, who says "Jane! Lovely to see you!" while both characters are off-camera, so perhaps the BBFC got the two characters mixed up. The unnamed friend, listed in the credits as 'Housewife', is played by Susan Glanville, and her character talks about a sexual fantasy, and the scene transitions into a fantasy sex scene with her and a fantasy lover, whom I believe is in the credits as 'Lover' played by Steve Amber. This scene runs 66:36 - 67:41. This consists only of 'missionary position' sex. It is debatable to what extent the man is "thrusting" in the shots that appear on the UK DVD. Also, there are no shots of the woman being on top. But there is no obvious jump in the musical score either, and the soundtrack transitions smoothly back from the fantasy scene to the non-fantasy scene, so it does not seem like anything is cut from this scene, unless it was done prior to mixing the soundtrack.
So it seems that some of the original BBFC cuts have been waived for the UK Odeon DVD, but perhaps some material is still cut. It might be that this material could not be found, was in too poor condition to scan, or was simply overlooked or ignored.
I am curious as to the source of the material used for the UK Odeon DVD (apparently the same as that used for the US Jezebel DVD). It is non-anamorphic, is not quite in the OAR, and while the picture quality isn't terrible, it contains lots of 'chequerboard' artefacts typical of the 'dot crawl' or 'cross-luminance' common in analog video, all of which strongly suggest that this is quite an old transfer from an analog tape source (most likely old broadcast quality video, as it looks better than VHS). It looks like the entire transfer is from the same source. But if the analog tape included material that was previously cut by the BBFC, then perhaps this tape came from outside the UK.
Anyway, even if some of the BBFC cuts described are still missing from the UK Odeon DVD, it seems unlikely that these would amount to over 5 minutes of material. I can think of 3 scenarios that might explain the discrepancy:
1. The reported runtime of 89:03 on the BBFC website could be incorrect. This seems highly unlikely, as it more or less matches the BBFC's approved footage (8016 feet, which at 16 frames per foot and 24fps works out to be 89:04), plus Eric reported that a pre-cert tape was 85:35 PAL, equivalent to 89:09 at 24fps.
2. The BBFC approved runtime of 89:03 refers to the movie plus additional material, such as trailers. This is definitely sometimes the case on the BBFC website for home video releases, but I am not aware of any examples for theatrical releases.
3. The BBFC approved runtime of 89:03 refers to the approved movie prior to additional cuts being made out of choice by the producers. Perhaps they cut some less interesting material to improve pacing... or possibly there WAS originally a sex scene in Reel 8 featuring Maria St. Clare as 'Jane', which the producers decided to remove completely...
...a tantalising note on which to end...