Here are a few examples of some noteworthy problem children of cinema which pushed the buttons of studio heads.
It goes without saying public opinion of the art of the
moving picture is purely subjective, dividing and unifying viewers alike
regarding its validity and/or quality.
As with any story or subject committed to film, there are rules and
regulations imposed by either a ratings systems or studio heads to determine a
film's suitability for the public.
Cultural temperament of the time itself is influential on a film's
classification for exhibition. If a film
fails commercially, at least it screened fairly among others which would make
or break their financiers. But what
about films that were denied their shot at success? Movies ready to race before being yanked from
the track. Movies deemed too controversial
or difficult for studios to accept as releasable. Movies the studio and perhaps its makers
wish to forget. Here are a few examples
of some noteworthy problem children of cinema which pushed the buttons of
studio heads as well as the boundaries of acceptability in modern motion
pictures.
The Devils –
(director: Ken Russell, 1971)
In 1971,
the same year as Stanley Kubrick's “Clockwork Orange” and Sam Peckinpah's
“Straw Dogs”, British provocateur Ken Russell unleashed this beast of a film,
'The Devils', on an unsuspecting studio, censors and public at large. Loosely based on Aldous Huxley's nonfiction
work 'The Devils of Loudon' about 17th century Roman Catholic priest Urbain
Grandier's framed conviction of demonic possession of a convent of nuns in
Loudon, France, this colorful period piece seemed like a commercially viable
passion play to financier and distributor Warner Brothers at its genesis. The sight of dozens of “possessed” nuns
stripping naked and performing obscene sexual acts on Christian relics, in
addition to its extreme violence exceeding well beyond Kubrick and Peckinpah's
aforementioned efforts, proved too much however for the heads at Warner. Ken Russell's rabble-rouser of a film not only
invited urgent upset from the studio, who demanded the excision of two
particularly controversial scenes before submission to the ratings board, but
Warner has taken great steps to prevent the film from being seen again for over
40 years. Though it was released
theatrically, theaters showing it were besieged by protestors picketing
screenings, and upon its US release, further cuts were made and UK prints were
recalled from distribution to conform with the newly assembled US cut.
To give an
idea of just how bitter Warner is about “The Devils”, in the early 2000's, a DVD
edition was being prepared by Warner shortly before it was cancelled without
explanation. Years later it briefly
appeared on iTunes before being withdrawn the next day. In 2004, Ken Russell began touring with a new
cut of 'The Devils', without Warner's approval, which restored the two scenes
the studio deemed unsuitable. After
Russell's untimely death in 2011, however, when the BFI approached Warner about
finally allowing 'The Devils' an official video release as opposed to frequent
bootlegs circulating about the internet, Warner agreed to a DVD release of the
UK theatrical cut, sans Blu-ray and Russell's 2004 director's cut. With film historian Mark Kermode's
documentary, 'Hell on Earth: The Desecration and Resurrection of The Devils',
which displayed the two notorious scenes restored to the 2004 cut, Warner
demanded those scenes be dropped from the documentary upon inclusion with the
DVD extras and in their place additional interviews with Russell were
reinstated. Warner currently has no
plans to release 'The Devils' in the US, making it difficult to see without
owning an import DVD player or turning to inferior bootlegs for viewing. In one of Russell's last interviews, he said
of the situation regarding the studio's antipathy to one of their most
requested titles of all time, “they didn't like it then, and they don't like it
now”.
Song of the
South – (directors: Wilfred Jackson, Harve Foster, 1946)
"You damn racist rabbit!" |
Walt
Disney's 1946 impassioned labor of love, 'Song of the South', based on Joel
Chandler Harris' 'Uncle Remus' short stories, would be the first film in
Disney's canon to combine animation and live action together in the same space,
making it a landmark in cinema history.
It tells the story of a former black slave who shares with children the
tales of Br'er Rabbit and his friends, seen in animation segments. Of the film's original songs,
'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' would go on to win an Academy Award and in 1989 at the Walt
Disney World Resort, a waterpark ride inspired by the film, “Splash Mountain”,
would be constructed to enormous success.
In spite of all the numerous accolades and pop-culture familiarity with
'Song of the South', the Disney company has officially banned their own picture
from DVD distribution, forcing consumers to turn to old VHS tapes and/or a
Japanese laser disc edition from the late 80s in order to see it.
Deemed
politically incorrect for its glorification of slavery and inaccurate portrait
of race relations of the 'Reconstruction-Era', the film invited controversy the
moment production began. The actor
playing Uncle Remus, who would sing the film's most iconic song, was barred
attendance from its world premiere.
Upon release, the film met with protestors picketing screenings for what
was perceived as an overtly racist picture.
Though re-released theatrically over the years to commercial success,
including in 1986 to promote the forthcoming 'Splash Mountain' ride, the Disney
company still won't allow release of the film on home video. Major critics like Roger Ebert, ordinarily
predisposed against censorship, supported Disney's ban of 'Song of the South'
in spite of acknowledging its cultural significance. Outside of occasional clips accompanying
'Disney Sing-A-Long' videos, access to 'Song of the South' beyond paying
exorbitant amounts on eBay has been relegated to bootlegging or YouTube.
Ivansxtc –
(director: Bernard Rose, 2000)
"No way. We're partyin' with Robocop!" |
anywhere) and furthered the CAA tried to prevent the film from being seen. While there's no such thing as bad publicity, in the case of 'Ivansxtc' Rose's comments wound up offending the very agency who helped complete his film in the first place. Although 'Ivansxtc' opened to glowing reviews (notably from Roger Ebert), it remains without a US distributor thanks to its director's association of the film with a real individual. A shame Rose shot himself in the foot, as it sports a terrific performance by Danny Huston and, in spite of its technical limitations, some really beautiful moments predating the DV work David Lynch would lens with his final film 'Inland Empire' (which in its own way, bears a striking resemblance to Rose's Hollywood Hellscape).
Ken Park –
(director: Larry Clark, Ed Lachman 2002)
"Sorry, mom. I just can't take any more Nickelback." |
Teen lust
provocateur Larry Clark, best known for 'Kids' and 'Bully', directed this
art-porn drama based on a preexisting Harmony Korine screenplay (Harmony wasn't
involved in the production) and shot-co directed by renowned cinematography Ed
Lachman. 'Ken Park' focuses on the
lives of 4 teens the title character, Ken Park, used to hang out with before
committing suicide. Much like Harmony
Korine's 'Gummo', the film alternates frequently between the lives of the teens
using voice-over narration and still photos to establish each character. In true Clark/Korine fashion, everyone is
highly dysfunctional, one of whom sexes his girlfriend's mom, two of whom fend
off abusive parents, and the last of which abuses his grandparents when he
isn't practicing autoerotic aspyhxiation with masturbation. The film flaunts unsimulated sexual acts
between the young cast members, a move that would raise more than a few
eyebrows of spectators lucky enough to see the film.
White Dog –
(director: Samuel Fuller, 1982)
"Michael Vick was yummy." |
WWII
Veteran and film artist Samuel Fuller, having directed since the late 1940s,
made this 1982 American drama called 'White Dog'. Co-written by future director Curtis Hanson,
it tells the tale of a dog trainer (Paul Williams) and his attempts to retrain
a stray dog rescued by a young actress (Kristy McNichol), whose previous owner
trained it to attack black people. Part
parable about the nature of racism, part horror film regarding its notion of
the inability to breed evil impulses out of us, the film easily trumps any
commentary about the subject attempted with films like Spike Lee's 'Do the
Right Thing' and Paul Haggis' 'Crash'.
It says so much about racism without even trying or browbeating the
viewer with didactic episodes, and is one of the most chilling films of
Fuller's already formidable ouvre.
Related article:6 Films That Invaded Our Home |
The Conqueror – (director: Dick Powell, 1956)
"Did someone order some wood?" |
'The
Conqueror' is a 1956 historical epic produced by Howard Hughes and directed by
actor Dick Powell, starring John Wayne as Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. It cost an unprecedented $6 million at the
time and was shot in the newly developed Cinemascope format. 'The Conqueror', however, was widely panned
by critics and is regarded as one of the worst films ever made. Immediately, there's something wrongheaded
about the Hollywood casting of John Wayne as a Mongol, particularly that he
simply looks and sounds like John Wayne.
'The Conqueror' has a creepy attitude towards war rape, with an
antithetical uplifting score playing against Genghis Khan's 'conquering'. It's hard to fathom an audience watching this
when it first came out, with all the forces of the Hollywood system on full
display wildly ripping itself apart.
Its
subsequent self-imposed ban would result in later years over its locations,
which were downwind from a nuclear testing site. Much of the cast and crew would develop
cancer from working on the production, lending to its unwanted subtitle as 'An
RKO Radioactive Picture'. Though it
turned over a reasonable profit at the box office, guilt-ridden producer Howard
Hughes would go on to spend twice the film's budget on acquiring every print
available in the world to bar it from being seen, reportedly watching the film
nightly until his death before Universal Studios eventually repurchased it from
his estate in 1979. What remains is a
curious blunder of miscalculated casting, mishandling of content, and a chilling
moment of Hollywood history when safety concerns and regulations were grossly
overlooked and possibly claimed the lives of those who worked on it.
The Day the
Clown Cried – (director: Jerry Lewis, 1972)
"Balls. Touch. Them." |
'The Day
the Clown Cried' is a 1972 film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis as a clown
in a Nazi concentration camp who tries to comfort a band of children as they're
being lead to the gas chamber. It
remains the most infamous unseen film of all time, with its shelving blamed on
everything from litigation problems to everyone from the screenwriters to its
lead actor/director (who eventually admitted to imposing the ban himself). The film has only been seen by a handful of
Hollywood insiders, notably actor Harry Shearer who reportedly watched a rough
cut in 1979 and referred to it as 'drastically wrong'. Whenever Lewis is asked of the possibility of
'The Day the Clown Cried' coming out, he grows angry and scoffs at the topic,
referring to it as 'a bad work. You'll
never see it and neither will anyone else.'
Ironically,
the same mixture of tender comedy and dark Nazi oppression would find success
with Roberto Benigni's 'Life is Beautiful' and Peter Kassovitz' remake of
'Jakob the Liar' with Robin Williams. At
this point, one wonders what about 'The Day the Clown Cried' keeps it under
lock and key, especially considering the recent snippets of behind-the-scenes
footage which managed to leak out alongside copies of the screenplay, giving
cinephiles a chance glimpse at what might have been. Until further notice, 'The Day the Clown
Cried' is either a potentially miscalculated disaster or a worthwhile addition
to Jerry Lewis' ouvre that deserves a fair chance in the wake of recent films
tackling the same subject and vibe.
The Baby of
Macon – (director: Peter Greenaway, 1993)
"Mom, people are staring." |
Though screened at the Cannes Film Festival
and released in the UK to much controversy, it was flat out refused
distribution in the US due to its content and aforementioned rape scene. The only way to see the film is via import,
with a Swedish Blu-ray easily available for purchase in spite of a lack of an
official release in the states. The film
itself has divided Greenaway fans, with his trademark visual opulence set
against the ghastly material, some finding it daring and transcendent while
others are simply appalled by its cruelty.
Though still a prolific provocateur who would make many more films
since, 'The Baby of Macon' remains the moment in Greenaway's career where the
spectator's tolerance of the material at hand was called into question.
The Profit –
(director: Peter N. Alexander, 2001)
Peter N.
Alexander's 'The Profit' is a 2001 feature film which satirizes the Church of
Scientology and notably its lead figure, L. Ron Hubbard. A former member of the Church for 20 years,
Peter N. Alexander aimed with his film to set the record straight regarding
Scientology and its practices. He
managed to complete the film in spite of intense harassment from members of the
church. Although it was shown at the
Cannes Film Festival, the Church of Scientology sued its makers and
successfully blocked the film from ever being distributed and seen
worldwide. Initially the move was
imposed due to a lawsuit already facing the Church of Scientology involving the
death of one of its members, Lisa McPherson, who was held against her will
within the church's headquarters. Bad
press about the church, let alone a film attacking the church, wasn't something
Scientologists wanted to happen.
Alexander's ex-wife and Scientologist Jolie Kanat also partook in the
smear campaign against Alexander and efforts to bury the film. Then it continued over the years, with
Alexander's producer Bob Minton switching sides from supporting the film to
abetting the Church circa 2007.
Though the
film miraculously appeared on YouTube, it remains officially banned and without
a distributor. It's unusual that in the
years since, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's film 'The Master' would be
met with a modicum of disdain from the Church of Scientology but no litigation
of any kind ensued. If anything, that
film had major stars in it and was widely seen.
Though 'The Master' does present objections to the Church of
Scientology, it's also strangely sympathetic to the Church, unlike 'The
Profit', which was clearly an indictment of the inner workings of Scientology
by one of its former members. Of all
the films covered in this list, 'The Profit' remains the one film completely
suppressed from the public eye via litigation and court order.
-Andrew Kotwicki
-Andrew Kotwicki
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