Page 1 of Movies cut in Britan

Why are Cliffhanger, Predator,commando and Eraser cut.i want the finished article not what stupid movie companies want to give us.these movies should be uncut on dvd and if needed an 18 rating.what else has been cut.add your own titles here so we can address which film companies are cheating us out of the full version.

It`s not up to the film companies which cut of a movie we get in Britain. That`s a decision made by the British Board of Film Classification. Films are submitted to the Board to be given a classification (U, PG, 12, 15 or 18). Movie companies aim at certain classifications to ensure the widest audience for their movie, but sometimes cuts have to be made depending on the political outlook of the day. The BBFC usually does not allow different cuts of movies to be made available (think of the children!!!), but sometimes allows so-called "uncut" editions as long as they`re clearly marketed as being different to the normal cut of the movie. Incidentally, submitting a movie to the BBFC costs a good few thousand quid a time, so sales have to be guaranteed to break even.

As far as I know Predator hasnt been cut for gore or violence over here, and its the exact same version as the US. Although theres a rumour going around that the version to be released on DVD here, is slightly shorter.....why ? F```K knows

It`s rumoured that Predator has always been pre-cut by Fox before BBFC submittion,


Cliffhanger can`t be uncut as an 18 (If it was submitted last year it would have been passed uncut but the BBFC now have a new policy of no dual releases when one is a cut lower rating and the other is an uncut higher rating) Nothing can be done about this (Momentum tried to get uncut 18, thats the release kept getting delayed, but the BBFC kept saying that only the cut 15 release could be released)


If Commando was resummited it may stand a chance of being passed uncut as an 18 (as it`s already an 18) under the more relaxed BBFC polices, but Fox have resubmitted the cut version (with BBFC and Fox pre-cuts) and thats the version thats likely to be on the DVD


Eraser would have to be passed uncut as a 15 for the BBFC to allow it (thats 3m50s of cuts that would have to be approved, 50s of which were cut at an 18 rating for Cinema release under BBFCs old policies)

I`m sure Eraser got shown as uncut `sky 18` when it premiered as it included the limo being hit by the train at the end which I`m told is missing from the 15 version.

If Sky did show it uncut they would have been fined.

I believe the current fine is £50,000

we should petition the idiots at the BBFC

Depending on how OFCOMM gets set up, we might find that the BBFC is history in a couple of years. Let`s hope there`s a more sensible attitude to censorship there than the current mess we have with the BBFC, the ITC etc.

So there`s no limo crash scene at the end of Eraser? I`m sure I`ve seen that scene and it definately wasn`t a pirate or anything. In fact it could very well have been on sky that I saw it.

Standard ITC rules state that channels must show the version of a film certified by the BBFC for video release, if one exists. However, Sky have shown alternate (less cut) versions countless times; Cliffhanger and Eraser being just two examples.

Either:

a) the rules are different for subscription channels, or

b) the ITC is prepared to turn a blind eye to Sky`s "misdemeanours" ;-)


Mike