Pitiful state

It is becoming remarkably clear that the state of film censorship in this country is little short of pitiful. Also disturbing is the seeming lack of rationale behind the censor's decisions.

Thus: the black magic sequence in Corman's Masque of the Red Death is excised, yet it could not be said that, the spectacle of Hazel Court dreaming that she is "stretched upon an odd couch in a totally helpless position, and wildly killed a great many times by hideous dancers armed with sharp-edged swords" would be more disturbing than the quite frightful initiation ceremony in Mel Ferrer's film of W. H. Hudson's Green Mansions.

In Fritz Lang's The Big Heat a pot of scalding coffee is thrown in a woman's face in direct view of the audience, while in Stakeout on Dope Street we are treated to a rigorous exhibition of drug addict dry horrors.

One wonders why these snippets were left in when it is quite obvious that similarly affecting sequences have been rudely cut from other films, sometimes In order that the age restriction may be as low as possible.