In our last (for now) episode, we chat to John Kelleher who was appointed Irish film censor in 2003. When he left in 2009, the Irish Film Censor's Office had been renamed the Irish Film Classification Office, a reform that reflected how it had become, as John says 'more guide dog than guard dog'. Until the pod returns, thanks to everyone for listening! A & LM xx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 26, 2024•45 min•Season 11Ep. 10
Censors have been replaced by classifiers, opaque silence by annual reports. We read recent annual reports from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) to see how those offices work in a digital media age, and to see what the (complaining) public thinks of their role. Films mentioned Minions: the Rise of Gru Ghostbusters Watership Down Bambi Star Trek the Motion Picture Nutcracker (by Matthew Bourne) The Batman Batman Returns A Man Called O...
Jun 06, 2024•40 min•Season 11Ep. 9
This remarkable neo-noir, directed by Abel Ferrara, has never been certified by the Irish Film Classification Office (the new name for the censor’s office). Aoife and Lloyd Meadhbh are joined by author Rob Doyle to discuss how Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund, with backgrounds in porno sleaze, made a sincere film about redemption, and forgiveness. Bad Lieutenant dir. Abel Ferrara, starring Harvey Keitel Rob Doyle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 23, 2024•49 min•Season 11Ep. 8
In Sam Peckinpah’s film, standard Western tropes – outlaws, heroes, beautiful landscape – are used to interrogate an exhausted genre. He knows spectacular gunfights are problematic but did the cut version shown in Ireland convey Peckinpah’s intent? The Wild Bunch , dir Sam Peckinpah, starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine Support us and Merch ! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 02, 2024•41 min•Season 11Ep. 7
One of Martin Scorsese’s favourite films and guess what? We agree, it’s brilliant. Contemporary audiences detested it, preferring to ignore why they derived pleasure from realistic, filmed torture and terror. This film has everything from Freudianism to a Hitchcock doppelganger. Cuts made by censors might be lost forever but it still shocks and gives us a perfect amount of ick. Peeping Tom (1960) dir. Michael Powell, starring Karlheinz Boehm, Anna Massey, Moira Shearer Psycho (1960) dir. Alfred ...
Apr 18, 2024•37 min•Season 11Ep. 6
A horror fan (Lloyd Meadhbh) and not-a-horror fan (Aoife) agree that this unexpectedly feminist film did not deserve to be banned twice in Ireland. Caveat: Roman Polanski directed it. Rosemary’s Baby (dir. Roman Polanski) starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes Merch! Support us on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 04, 2024•39 min•Season 11Ep. 5
Ties, suits and sex - Paul Schrader's exploration of consumerism and Richard Gere's hotness was pruned of bad language and "sex scenes" by the Irish censor. American Gigolo (1980, dir. Paul Schrader) starring Richard Gere, Lauren Hutton, Bill Duke, Hector Elizondo You Must Remember This on American Gigolo More on Aoife's Gere-athon for Patreon supporters Merch! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Mar 21, 2024•39 min•Season 11Ep. 4
What’s the worst celluloid crime committed in The Evil Dead : excessive violence or Bruce Campbell’s fringe? Lloyd Meadhbh (a fan) tries to persuade Aoife (a sceptic) to embrace this video-nasty classic. Also, listener correspondence on The Rocky Road to Dublin . The Evil Dead (dir. Sam Rami, 1981) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520dead Evil Dead II (dir. Sam Rami, 1987) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092991/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7_tt_8_nm_0_q_evil%2520dead%2...
Mar 07, 2024•32 min•Season 11Ep. 3
Lloyd Meadhbh rewinds the tape back to the 1980s, when a new film medium caused a new (ish) moral panic. Support us Merch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 22, 2024•35 min•Season 11Ep. 2
How revolutionary was Ireland anyway? Journalist and director Peter Lennon asked how a nation birthed by rebels seemed to be run by Catholic priests. His caustic script allied to Raoul Coutard 's captivating cinematography made for a unique documentary. We discuss odd accents, cheeky children and creepy priests. The Rocky Road to Dublin (1967, re-released by IFI in 2004) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66JpC_T3wFM Merch Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 01, 2024•42 min•Season 11Ep. 1
Did you know DIY censorship was practiced by those outside the film censor’s office. Even after official censors vetted publicity material, some film posters showed too much skin, especially male arms and legs. Liam O’Leary collected this material Kevin Rockett Irish Film Censorship: a cultural journey from silent cinema to internet pornography (2004) Doctored film posters can be seen here Original, undoctored film posters: The Virgin Soldiers (1969) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065182/?ref_=fn...
Dec 28, 2023•32 min•Season 10Ep. 10
Ken Russell's The Devils is definitely a film for us. Satanism, orgies, exorcisms - what's not to love? And it's a complicated censorship story of different cuts for different censors. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Dec 14, 2023•47 min•Season 10Ep. 9
Banned, appealed, cut eleven times: The Graduate (1967) had a torrid time in Ireland. What narrative were Irish audiences allowed to see? And, Mrs Robinson, we stan. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nov 30, 2023•38 min•Season 10Ep. 8
A film beloved by our hosts that proved too much for the Irish censor. Was it Liza Minnelli's (as Sally Bowles) legs or men fancying other men? The answer is quite surprising. But then, so is writing a musical about genocide. Cabaret (dir. Bob Fosse, 1972) Merch! Help keep the show on the road (Over 18s only because 'smut' is censored) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 16, 2023•36 min•Season 10Ep. 7
Lloyd Meadhbh explains Northern Ireland’s special censorship sauce to Aoife. There’s cross-border agreement, even more censors than usual and a bit of flogging. Films: Ulster the Garden of Eden (1930), tourist authority of NI Frankenstein (1931, dir James Whale) Ourselves Alone (1936, dir Brian Desmond Hurst, Walter Summers) Released in the US as Rivers of Unrest https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0028071/ The Informer (1935, dir John Ford) Merch! Support us Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for ...
Nov 02, 2023•50 min•Season 10Ep. 6
War brings propaganda, and that means censorship. What happens if war is denied in favour of an 'Emergency'? We unpick why Betty Grable's legs were withdrawn from Irish cinema screens in 1941. A Yank in the RAF (1941, dir. Henry King) starring Betting Grable, Tyrone Power and John Sutton Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 19, 2023•44 min•Season 10Ep. 5
Aoife's working title was 'Wildcard' – we went on a journey through vice-ridden streets (and garages) of Dublin city in 1954. Films: Smart Alec (1951) US 'stag' film starring Candy Barr Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Oct 05, 2023•40 min•Season 10Ep. 4
How did the Irish censor feel about Biblical epics? And how could a convent have ‘a sex atmosphere’? Where we discuss Mary Magdalene’s gold bikini and dangerously smouldering Englishmen. But also, Elvis. Films: King of Kings (Cecil B. deMille, 1927) Black Narcissus (Powell and Pressburger, 1947) Flaming Star (Don Siegel, 1960) Support us on patreon Merch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 21, 2023•44 min•Season 10Ep. 3
We investigate ‘It’, a type of sex appeal that raised the temperatures of cinema goers and censors in the 1930s. ‘It’ was personified in the screen personas of Clara Bow and Mae West but did you know that tigers and Derry also have ‘It’? ‘ It ’ (1927) directed by Clarence G Badger and Josef von Sternberg, starring Clara Bow and Antonio Moreno ‘She Done Him Wrong’ (1933) dir. Lowell Sherman, starring Mae West and Cary Grant. ‘I’m No Angel’ (1933) dir. Wesley Ruggless, starring Mae West and Cary G...
Sep 07, 2023•45 min•Season 10Ep. 2
Film censorship in Ireland is a hundred years old today. What were Irish cinema goers watching in 1923, and what would the Censor keep them from watching in the future? Find out in this bumper birthday episode. · Discover which elderly TD was the most avid cinema goer in parliament. · Find out why soft carpets were an issue for one Deputy Film Censor. · Learn how the Mothers’ Union compared cinema to demonic possession. · Welcome our new ‘Censorship Bingo’ card: the ‘Don’ts’ and ‘Be Carefuls’ li...
Jul 16, 2023•46 min•Season 10Ep. 1
Why would Irish censors object to a satire of the English upper-classes? They probably wouldn’t but Arlen wrote something far creepier. With Dr Laura Ludtke. He's merciless on the role of sport in creating Englishman. Aoife Bhreatnach I have to admit, the introduction of Mosley as the Minister of War in a fascist conservative coalition government led by Winston Churchill did throw me for a bit. Laura Ludtke To use the narrator's own terms, there is something damn queer about the case. Laura Ludt...
Jul 06, 2023•49 min•Season 9Ep. 10
There’s lots of indecency in this memoir – vile racism, horrific violence – but readers shouldn’t be protected from Wright’s rage and bitterness. On the floor of the US senate, a Theodore Bilbo said "It is the dirtiest, filthiest, lousiest, most obscene piece of writing that I have ever seen in print.” Wright’s memoir is emotionally and narratively like many published in the last 20 years. And the Irish weren’t the only ones who’ve struggled with this book – this text has an epic history of ce...
Jun 22, 2023•29 min•Season 9Ep. 9
What do you do when you’ve read a lot of smutty books? Watch dirty films, of course. This season is about films that annoyed the censors. And, to double your fun, there are now two hosts: Aoife Bhreatnach and Lloyd (Meadhbh) Houston. Here’s a taste of what to expect from us. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 16, 2023•10 min
When Patrick Mulloy, author of Jackets Green , heard his book was banned he did something unusual – he sued for libel. But why was this censorship trial held in London? This is a true crime special, but with banned books instead of dead bodies. Read about the violent 1920s here https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/ireland-1922/ Síobhra Aiken, Spiritual Wounds: Trauma, Testimony and the Irish Civil War (2022) Support the show Buy merch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more inform...
Jun 08, 2023•26 min•Season 9Ep. 8
Mae West is remembered for her cracking one-liners but she was a helluva writer too. Guest: Dr Muireann O’Cinnéide. Her sexual persona that she creates in the film She Done Him Wrong means the Irish censors interpret this book as essentially indecent. Aoife Bhreatnach One of the things West seems to thinking about in the novel is: how do you replace that immediate kind of visual vivid iconography with a kind of a linguistic equivalent? Dr Muireann O’Cinnéide It’s really quite a vivid rendering o...
May 25, 2023•48 min•Season 9Ep. 7
A prolific novelist and memoirist, Ethel Mannin cleverly smuggled lots of controversial ideas into this best-selling autobiography. Freud’s influence on Mannin is clear at various points in the book because she is deeply interested in childhood as a political and cultural idea. Her chapters on schooling are very focused on telling readers about the vulnerability of children to scolding, humiliation and physical violence. She told her school teacher that her flag was the red flag – an incendiary ...
May 11, 2023•33 min•Season 9Ep. 6
Written by a woman (and her ghost writer) hiding in an Italian villa to escape the paparazzi, this is a short, sometimes shocking memoir. This is a type of celebrity memoir, a text written by someone in the eye of a media storm. The relationship between homosexuality and heterosexuality creates a lot of anxiety for Roberta. What really jars with me, a reader in 2023, is the biological argument Roberta makes. Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy sticker...
Apr 27, 2023•24 min•Season 9Ep. 5
Let Box-Car Bertha show you the American underworld, where the homeless and rootless struggle to survive. An uncensored story that, unsurprisingly, was censored. In the publishing landscape of the mid 20th century, uncensored obviously means salaciousness but also a type of honesty that is tough and uncompromising. Bertha’s mother believes in ‘free love’ a phrase I thought originated in the 1960s but obviously dates from much earlier. The stories of hundreds of poor individuals appear here – all...
Apr 13, 2023•28 min•Season 9Ep. 4
One of many books about the First World War on the censor’s blacklist, this one claims to offer a new, fresh perspective about the British army. But how much truth can a memoir written by ‘anonymous’ tell? With Dr Andrew Frayn. For a novel that's meant to be from a women's point of view, it's often very uncharitable about them. Andrew Frayn People are walked up to the door of the bedroom, told it is a bedroom, and then left to imagine for themselves. Aoife Bhreatnach It's a generic novel at a mo...
Mar 30, 2023•41 min•Season 9Ep. 3
Written by an old man reflecting on his life in sex, this notorious memoir was banned almost everywhere. It’s nice to know I’m not the imagined reader of this book – wrong gender, wrong gonads Harris thinks pandering to girl readers stripped English literature of its earthy Shakespearean soul His curious yoking together of philosophy and porn isn’t always successful Fancy supporting the show? Do so here https://www.patreon.com/censoredpod Or buy stickers here: https://censoredpod.bigcartel.com/ ...
Mar 16, 2023•27 min•Season 9Ep. 2
