The Hidden Cinema: British Film Censorship in Action, 1913-72 (Cinema and Society) Book

How does film censorship work in Britain? In this paperback edition, Jim Robertson looks at the work of the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) and discusses the structure of censorship and the histories of noteworthy censored feature films from the silent era to the early 1970s. Robertson examines how, since the Board was established in 1913, censorship has functioned at several levels; within the BBFC itself, in film companies, and through independent critics and would-be reformers. He looks at such films as the Soviet classic Battleship Potemkin and No Orchids for Miss Blandish--a British attempt to emulate the American gangster genre which caused a furor upon its release in 1948. The Hidden Cinema includes a look at how censorship continues to exert a marked influence on more recent films--like A Clockwork Orange, which has vanished from British screens altogether. This paperback edition also includes a section on Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris, which was immediately engulfed in censorship wrangles upon its release in 1972. Throughout The Hidden Cinema Robertson argues that censorship has had a far greater influence on film history than is often immediately apparent.Read More