Censored: The Story of Film Censorship in Britain

by Tom Dewe Mathews

If one drew up a list of the best films ever made, then it turns out that nearly all of them have been heavily censored or banned. Lang's METROPOLIS, Chaplin's CITY STREETS, Eisenstein's BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN, Brando's THE WILD ONE and Kubrick's THE CLOCKWORK ORANGE, for instance, have all suffered from the effects of censorship. This pioneering book explores the absurdities (and occasional virtues) of censorship over the whole history of film in Britain, and places them in the context of their age. From the banning of anti-Nazi films (that continued up to 1939), to the sexual dilemmas of the 50s and 60s as the censors dealt with homosexuality, nudity, violence, drugs, rape and other subjects that came out of the closet, right up to the ludicrous limits still imposed on film-makers by the BBFC, this book is a brilliantly entertaining - but also hard-hitting - account of a control that is often political in its effect, and always contradictory.

Genres: Nonfiction, Media Tie In, Film

298 pages, Hardcover

First published June 27, 1994

Reviews

[سماح العرياني · Rating 3 out of 5]

‫الكتاب يتحدث عن تاريخ الرقابة السينمائية في بريطانيا على مدى ثمانين عام تقريباً.. حتى ١٩٩٤ تاريخ إصدار الكتاب.‬
‫
أعتقد يكفي لو كنت تقرأ في التاريخ الاجتماعي للمنطقة، لأن معروف أن المجتمع كانت تحكمه قواعد عديدة دينية واجتماعية موروثة، وكانت اعتراضاته كثيرة على التجديدات والتغيرات في القرن العشرين، فطبيعي جداً اعتراضهم على السيناريوهات الجريئة والمتمردة..
الجدير بالاهتمام هو استغلال الحكومة البريطاينة للسينما في الحرب الإعلامية والدعاية السوداء.

تقريباً الكتاب محا يضيف لك الكثير، مو على قد ضخامته.. إلا لو كان مجال اهتمامك السينما‬

[Ben Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant read that pulls no punches. Shame it came out thirty years ago really!

[Jill H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the story of film censorship in Britain from the beginning to the present time and I don't understand it at all. I don't mean I don't understand what it says, I just don't understand how or why they reached the guidelines that they established or how the censorship board (BBFC) operated. They were backed by the Office of the Home Secretary (or were they) and the members' names were kept from the public. They were inconsistent in their rulings and some of them were, frankly, ridiculous. Just one example is the final speech made by Peter Lorre in Fritz Lang's masterpiece M. It is considered one of the finest piece of acting in screen history and the British censors cut it because it might upset children! The whole film was about child murder so why were children attending in the first place and if they were, why was that scene so offensive?
I am a great film buff but this book was just too dry and pedantic for my taste. It did have some interesting sections but not enough to give it a higher rating.

[Martin Raybould · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating, and at times shocking, study of how censorship stops the free circulation of ideas. I would have liked the author to state his anti-censorphip case in a more forthright manner but any intelligent reader can draw their own conclusions.