MovieChat Forums > Biggles (1988) Discussion > Was any gore censored for TV showings o...

Was any gore censored for TV showings of this film?

posted 17 years ago by fennmeister2000
11 replies | jump to latest

When I was young (under ten) around the early 90s I saw the film once unaccompanied on BBC and I don't remember seeing much that could scare/upset me.I saw it once in an early evening once with my dad and for a second time one Christmas in the afternoon alone.

I recently purchased a VHS official tape of Biggles and watched it for the first time in over ten years today.I remembered the majority of the film apart from one sequence.

It occurs in the scene after Biggles,Ferguson etc come out of the white tiled protective shelters following the sound weapon being tested on the devastated town. I never remember seeing the German soldier with a molten face and seeing the woman pick up his eye ball.If I was watching it on my own,as a youngster, I would not have had my parents censoring the film. I.E. telling me to look away at a particular moment.If I had seen it it would have stuck in my mind to this day.

There's probably no way of checking/confirming with the BBC in Britain specfically cut the footage out when I saw it.

Does anyone know whether there were cut versions at all?

thanks

[–] Toxie2k2 17 years ago

I've just taken a look on the BBFC website, there was about 3 minutes trimmed for the video release. It looks like the same cut was put onto DVD, so there's still an uncut version out there.

[–] icstephen 17 years ago

I have seen this movie an untold number of times (50 to 60 times) and used to have it on commercial vhs..I recently rented it on DVD and there where several scenes (including the eyeball scene...that I would have definatly remembered) so the dvd that I rented is different (longer) than the tape I used to have. The other scene that I recognised that was longer was when Capt Raymond and Fergusson are talking in furguson's office near the beginning of the film. There may have been others but that is what I remember..I do not have the tape anymore so I can't do a side by side.

[–] Toxie2k2 17 years ago

Are you in the US, perhaps it's just cut in the UK then.

This is the info for the UK releases for people's intrest:

Film 30/12/1985 U.I.P. (UK): 92m 16s - Cinema Release
Video 20/08/1986 CBS/Fox Video Ltd: 88m 31s - Original Video Release
Video 18/08/2003 Prism Leisure Corp PLC: 88m 29s - DVD Release

[–] speedway1975 17 years ago

Don't forget besides cuts, the UK DVD being PAL will be shorter than the theatrical release by about 3-4 minutes because of the PAL speedup conversion that takes place when a film is mastered to PAL video.

[–] lupin15 16 years ago

This film's native format is PAL. The NTSC version is the conversion. The film it self has not be cut as far as video/dvd releases go and no tv channel has played it over here in the UK in years as far as I know.

[–] speedway1975 16 years ago

The films native format is *FILM*. 24fps. PAL is a video format for telelvison.

[–] wingtsun20 16 years ago

I had the tape version the differences to the DVD was the eyeball from the socket and when he picks up the guys arms. Also the swear words.

[–] markafc83 13 years ago

Until recently I hadn't seen this film in around 20 years but the scene with the German is the one I always remember!

I actually remember gory scenes from quite a few family films from the 80s. The Never Ending Story was rated U (Universal) in the UK but there is a scene in which a Knight is killed by a bolt of lightning and his face (which is basically a skull with some badly burnt skin still attached) is shown. Raiders of the Lost Ark is also notable for its gruesome death scenes and was rated PG - I think I first saw it when I was 6 or 7.

I think the reason for this is the introduction of 'in between' ratings such as PG13 in the US and 12/12A in the UK. A film like Raiders of the Lost Ark would never get a PG rating these days. Therefore film makers tend to omit gore unless the film is clearly aimed at adult audiences.

It's probably also just a characteristic of films from the 80s. It was a golden age for gore in mainstream films. There probably isn't the same desire to push the boundaries these days.

[–] ghostgate2001 9 years ago

"Biggles" was screened on Film4 (UK free-to-air film channel) earlier today and despite being in widescreen (16:9) it was, sadly, the censored PG-rated UK version, without the "eyeball" sequence.

All you saw was Biggles reaching down to one of the bodies, after the sound-weapon test, and then the woman recoiling with an "Euw!" - no sight of what she was recoiling from, i.e. no dessicated corpse with a gloopy eyeball hanging out.

Understandable, I guess, because the film was shown in a 5pm-7pm "family-friendly" time-slot, so that sequence would've occurred at around 6:30pm (Film4 has commercial breaks) ... probably a bit much for all the home-from-school kiddies.

Shame, though, because I was hoping to grab a recording of this film in widescreen (and uncut) as an upgrade from my old 4:3 Region 1 DVD... I forgot it's routinely cut for eyeballs in the UK. Dagnabbit.

If anyone's interested, the Film4 version weighed in at 1h29m (with the commercials edited out) so that's approximately 1h32m without the PAL speed-up, i.e. if it was running at a native 24fps (instead of PAL's slightly sped-up 25fps).

Wish some cult-film label would just put this movie out on Blu-ray - uncut, full-length version, uncompressed audio, and in the correct 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Is that really too much to ask for? (Probably, yes...)

EDIT: Checks other thread, and discovers that the film is being released on Blu-ray in the UK in just 4 days time... How neat is that? :)

[–] pferreira86 9 years ago

Yeah like the original releases it's an uncut PG version with the eyeball coming out in her hand. Don't get too excited, no extras except for the film trailer. Shame as they could have ported over the original extras or created some new ones. There was more than enough space.

[–] psdhart 8 years ago

by
markafc83I actually remember gory scenes from quite a few family films from the 80s. The Never Ending Story was rated U (Universal) in the UK but there is a scene in which a Knight is killed by a bolt of lightning and his face (which is basically a skull with some badly burnt skin still attached) is shown. Raiders of the Lost Ark is also notable for its gruesome death scenes and was rated PG - I think I first saw it when I was 6 or 7.

I think the reason for this is the introduction of 'in between' ratings such as PG13 in the US and 12/12A in the UK. A film like Raiders of the Lost Ark would never get a PG rating these days. Therefore film makers tend to omit gore unless the film is clearly aimed at adult audiences.

It's probably also just a characteristic of films from the 80s. It was a golden age for gore in mainstream films. There probably isn't the same desire to push the boundaries these days.

Another was Willow - haven't seen it for ages -when Willow is surprised by a troll, and uses the wand to transform it into something else which he kicks into the moat

"Biggles" was screened on Film4 (UK free-to-air film channel) earlier today and despite being in widescreen (16:9) it was, sadly, the censored PG-rated UK version, without the "eyeball" sequence.

It was on again on the 10th of January, same version