Burke and Hare (1971) Simply Media

[JamesM]

Out on March 16th.



The BBFC website states that it is widescreen and runs for 90 minutes. Now the BBFC also says that the original ran for 98 minutes with cuts although the BBFC website does not show the run time in the ordinary spot.

[m35541]

The BBFC cuts for this one are on the Worldwide DVD forums website and are pretty minimal. If the running time is 90m in pal that means 94m at cinema speed so there is 4mins missing.



Likely the distributor made some last minute trims post BBFC screening. This was a pretty common practice in the period to show the BBFC films that were not in final edit stage.

[JamesM]

name='m35541']Likely the distributor made some last minute trims post BBFC screening. This was a pretty common practice in the period to show the BBFC films that were not in final edit stage.

I am really surprised to find that was allowed (to alter a certified film and exhibit with the certificate obtained previously).

[m35541]

It happened a lot before the Video Recordings Act when it was all put on a proper legal footing - post the VRA you had to show the film as certified and get it certified again if you wanted to change it. Prior to that distributors would sometimes do last minute edits post the certification once they knew whether they had to take any content out for censorship purposes.



Back then the BBFC's concern was that the content was suitable for the classification given - if stuff was taken out afterwards for general release they didn't really care because that didn't affect the category.



An interesting one to check out is the original BBFC running time for The Pink Panther Strikes Again and compare it to the VHS/DVD releases (which are the theatrical print). There's 20m difference. Another much-debated case is Peeping Tom which the BBFC have at 109m but release prints don't seem to have been any longer than 101m (this was cut by the BBFC but most of the cuts are back in the DVD and don't add up to anything near 7-8m).

[daisyhall1]

Hopefully it will be an improved restored print than the fuzzy one which appeared on movies for men last year?

[R-T-C Tim]

I am a little wary of BBFC running times, a number of older films seem to have longer running times that would otherwise be expected. "Fury at Smugglers Bay" for example has a 98 minute runtime listed at the BBFC, compared to 82 minute DVD release. Can't say for sure of course, but I certainly did not notice any cuts when watching the film.



I wonder if firms would add a short movie or even some trailers on to the end of a film they wanted rating, so it could all be passed at the same time and save on the BBFC fees?