Banned Films
A select list of films that were banned for one reason or another, primarily in the UK & USA. I've excluded any films that were never intended to be mainstream/theatrical releases, as well as those I have no interest in seeing.
Starting with Freaks in 1932. Listed in chronological order of production.
No film of note has been banned in the UK or US since the mid-90s and Natural Born Killers. Several made in earlier decades were banned after this time (see notes), and almost all subsequent bans have been temporary pending cuts (see Human Centipede 2).
See Also:
Film censorship in the United Kingdom
Film censorship in the United States
Starting with Freaks in 1932. Listed in chronological order of production.
No film of note has been banned in the UK or US since the mid-90s and Natural Born Killers. Several made in earlier decades were banned after this time (see notes), and almost all subsequent bans have been temporary pending cuts (see Human Centipede 2).
See Also:
Film censorship in the United Kingdom
Film censorship in the United States
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- DirectorTod BrowningStarsWallace FordLeila HyamsOlga BaclanovaA circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.UK
Banned for disturbing content". Not approved until 1963. - DirectorErle C. KentonStarsCharles LaughtonBela LugosiRichard ArlenA mad doctor conducts ghastly genetic experiments on a remote island in the South Seas, much to the fear and disgust of the shipwrecked sailor who finds himself trapped there.UK
Refused a certificate for concerns over animal abuse under the Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937. Passed in 1958. - DirectorFrank BorzageStarsClark GableJoan CrawfordIan HunterConvicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure (Ian Hunter).USA
Banned by the Detroit Police Department due to the film's culture being "obscene and indecent". - DirectorGeorge CukorStarsGreta GarboMelvyn DouglasConstance BennettAfter a ski instructor catches her husband flirting with an old flame, she decides to pose as her (fictitious) twin sister in an attempt to keep him faithful.USA
Banned in New York City for scenes of adultery. - DirectorAllan DwanStarsDennis O'KeefeHelen WalkerJune HavocIn order to inherit $7,000,000, an ex-soldier must spend $1,000,000 in two months' time.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsEdward G. RobinsonJoan BennettDan DuryeaA man in mid-life crisis befriends a young woman, though her fiancé persuades her to con him out of the fortune they mistakenly assume he possesses.
- DirectorVittorio De SicaStarsLamberto MaggioraniEnzo StaiolaLianella CarellIn post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsJames CagneyBarbara PaytonHelena CarterStarting with a violent prison break, clever, ruthless Ralph Cotter corrupts everyone around him.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsWilliam HoldenDavid NivenMaggie McNamaraTwo aging playboys are both after the same attractive young woman, but she fends them off by claiming that she plans to remain a virgin until her wedding night. Both men determine to find a way around her objections.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsMarlon BrandoMary MurphyRobert KeithTwo rival motorcycle gangs terrorize a small town after one of their leaders is thrown in jail.UK
Censors felt the film encouraged criminal activity and antisocial behavior. Unavailable until 1967. - DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsEdward D. Wood Jr.Bela LugosiLyle TalbotA psychiatrist tells the stories of a transvestite (Glen or Glenda) and a pseudohermaphrodite (Alan or Anne).
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsFrank SinatraKim NovakEleanor ParkerA junkie must face his true self to kick his drug addiction.
- DirectorElia KazanStarsKarl MaldenCarroll BakerEli WallachAn immature, naive teenage bride holds her anxious husband at bay while flirting with an amorous Sicilian farmer.
- DirectorRuss MeyerStarsBill TeasAnn PetersEnrico BanducciA door to door salesman of dentist's appliances encounters beautiful well-endowed nude women everywhere he goes.
- DirectorBasil DeardenStarsDirk BogardeSylvia SymsDennis PriceA closeted lawyer risks his career to bring a blackmailer to justice.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsPeter BreckConstance TowersGene EvansBent on winning a Pulitzer Prize, a journalist commits himself to a mental institution to solve a strange and unclear murder.
- DirectorKing DonovanStarsJayne MansfieldTommy NoonanMarie McDonaldAfter a drunken spree on a cruise ship, two women discover that they're pregnant, and set out to find who the fathers are.
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsConstance TowersAnthony EisleyMichael DanteA former prostitute relocates to a buttoned-down suburb, determined to fit in with mainstream society. But perverse secrets simmer beneath the wholesome surface.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsShirley MacLainePeter UstinovRichard CrennaA former Notre Dame football star crash lands over a mythical Arabian country while on spy mission to the USSR. He is then forced by the football-obsessed king of that country to coach their football team .
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsBrigitte BardotJeanne MoreauGeorge HamiltonSomewhere in Central America in 1907: Maria II is the daughter of an Irish terrorist. After her father's death, she meets Maria I, a singer in a circus. She decides to stay with the circus, and on her debut as a singer, she unintentionally invents the strip-tease and makes the circus famous. Then they accidentally meet a socialist revolutionary and find themselves leading a revolution against the dictator, the capitalists and the Church.
- DirectorSergio CorbucciStarsFranco NeroJosé CanalejasJosé BódaloA coffin-dragging gunslinger and a prostitute become embroiled in a bitter feud between a Klan of Southern racists and a band of Mexican Revolutionaries.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsPeter FondaNancy SinatraBruce DernThe "Angels", a San Pedro motorcycle gang, parties in the Coachella Valley's Palm Springs Indian Canyons, California, and wreaks havoc with the local police.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsPeter FondaSusan StrasbergBruce DernA disillusioned TV-commercial director is guided by his friend through an LSD trip, during which he evaluates his identity and his relationships with women.
- DirectorVilgot SjömanStarsLena NymanVilgot SjömanBörje AhlstedtTold in a quasi-documentary style, this companion piece to I Am Curious (Blue) (1968) deals with topics such as class society, non-violent resistance, sex, relationships, and tourism to Francoist Spain.
- DirectorLee FrostStarsBob CresseMaria LeaseKathy WilliamsTwo female Army agents go undercover at a Nazi prison camp to get information from a scientist being held there.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsShelley WintersDon StroudPat HingleA psychologically disturbed matriarch presides over her damaged family of bank-robbing misfits.
- DirectorSam PeckinpahStarsDustin HoffmanSusan GeorgePeter VaughanA young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.
- DirectorJerry SchatzbergStarsAl PacinoKitty WinnAlan VintFollows the lives of heroin addicts who frequent "Needle Park" in New York City.
- DirectorJohn WatersStarsDivineDavid LocharyMary Vivian PearceNotorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
- DirectorWes CravenStarsSandra PeabodyLucy GranthamDavid HessTwo teenage girls heading to a rock concert for one's birthday try to score marijuana in the city, where they are kidnapped and brutalized by a gang of psychopathic convicts.
- DirectorStanley KubrickStarsMalcolm McDowellPatrick MageeMichael BatesIn the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.
- DirectorJack HillStarsPam GrierBooker BradshawRobert DoQuiA sexy Black nurse takes vigilante justice against inner-city drug dealers after her sister becomes their latest victim.
- DirectorTobe HooperStarsMarilyn BurnsEdwin NealAllen DanzigerFive friends head out to rural Texas to visit the grave of a grandfather. On the way they stumble across what appears to be a deserted house, only to discover something sinister within. Something armed with a chainsaw.
- DirectorDusan MakavejevStarsCarole LaurePierre ClémentiAnna PrucnalAfter winning the "most virgin" contest, Miss Canada is married to a rich milk tycoon. But she quickly flees the marriage to experience the world around her, full of sweetness and anarchy.
- DirectorPier Paolo PasoliniStarsPaolo BonacelliGiorgio CataldiUberto Paolo QuintavalleIn World War II Italy, four fascist libertines round up nine adolescent boys and girls and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental, and sexual torture.
- DirectorBarbet SchroederStarsGérard DepardieuBulle OgierAndré RouyerA common thief (Depardieu) breaks into the house of a professional dominatrix (Ogier), and begins to help her "train" her clients. Though this world is alien to his experience, he finds himself falling in love with her. Eventually he discovers that she does this in order to support her son, and he attempts to help her out of this life, which she is not sure she really wants to leave.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsSusan HemingwayKarine GambierHoward VernonSomewhere in the jungles of South America mercenaries stop a truck which has allegedly loaded fruit. The cargo turns out to be six young women. Apprehended and handed over to the custody of the local women's prison.
- DirectorMeir ZarchiStarsCamille KeatonEron TaborRichard PaceAn aspiring writer is repeatedly assaulted, humiliated, and left for dead by four men she systematically hunts down to seek revenge.
- DirectorTerry JonesStarsGraham ChapmanJohn CleeseMichael PalinBorn on the original Christmas in the stable next door to Jesus Christ, Brian of Nazareth spends his life being mistaken for a messiah.
- DirectorRussell MulcahyStarsDudley MoorePeter CookJudy HuxtableRussell Mulcahy (of "Highlander" fame) films British comedy luminaries Peter Cook and Dudley Moore recording their last comedy album featuring two of their most beloved characters, lavatory attendants Derek and Clive. Booze, drugs, strippers and practical jokes (sometimes bitter and sick on the part of Cook) are provided. Throughout the recording, Moore has to weather the abuse and disdain of his longtime partner in the wake of his success in the American market (with films like '10' (1979) and Foul Play (1978)). The film marked the last appearance of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore together as a team and the end of their partnership which began with "Beyond the Fringe" in 1959. The men discuss "getting the horn" (i.e. getting "in the mood") at the most unlikely times, improvise songs filled with obscenities (Cook's two-note piano opus entitled "Dutch Bitch" is coarse and hilarious to those who are not easily offended) and work out their aggressions toward one another in the strangest ways, in the midst of putting the album together. They engage in all-out war and undeniable camaraderie.
- DirectorRuggero DeodatoStarsRobert KermanFrancesca CiardiPerry PirkanenDuring a rescue mission into the Amazon rainforest, a professor stumbles across lost film shot by a missing documentary crew.
- DirectorCharles KaufmanStarsTiana PierceNancy HendricksonDeborah LuceTwo brothers kidnap and brutalize three women for the pleasure of their demented mother.
- DirectorWilliam LustigStarsJoe SpinellCaroline MunroAbigail ClaytonA psychopathic man goes on a killing and mutilation spree in New York City.
- DirectorRobert HoustonKenji MisumiStarsTomisaburô WakayamaKayo MatsuoMinoru ÔkiWhen the wife of the Shogun's Decapitator is murdered and he is ordered to commit suicide by the paranoid Shogun, he and his four-year-old son escape and become assassins for hire, embarking on a journey of blood and violent death.
- DirectorNoel MarshallStarsTippi HedrenNoel MarshallMelanie GriffithA naturalist living with big cats in East Africa expects a visit by his family of four from Chicago. A mix-up leaves him searching for his family, who have been left in the clutches of wild lions.
- DirectorSam RaimiStarsBruce CampbellEllen SandweissRichard DeManincorFive friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons.
- DirectorAndrzej ZulawskiStarsIsabelle AdjaniSam NeillMargit CarstensenA woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsJack HedleyAlmanta SuskaHoward RossA burned-out New York police detective teams up with a college psychoanalyst to track down a vicious serial killer randomly stalking and killing various young women around the city.
- DirectorDanny SteinmannTom DeSimoneStarsLinda BlairJohn VernonRobert DryerA teenage vigilante seeks revenge on a group of violent thugs who raped her handicapped sister and killed her best friend.
- DirectorWilliam FriedkinStarsEllen BurstynMax von SydowLinda BlairWhen a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.UK - Never banned, but not awarded classification following the Video Recordings Act 1986 until 1999. See: Death Wish (1974).
- DirectorLee HarryStarsEric FreemanJames NewmanElizabeth KaitanThe now-adult Ricky talks to a psychiatrist about how he became a murderer after his brother, Billy, died, which leads back to Mother Superior.
- DirectorMichael WinnerStarsCharles BronsonHope LangeVincent GardeniaA New York City architect becomes a one-man vigilante squad after his wife is murdered by street punks. In self-defense, the vengeful man kills muggers on the mean streets after dark.UK
Never banned, but not awarded classification following the Video Recordings Act 1986 until 2000. See: The Exorcist (1973). - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsWillem DafoeHarvey KeitelBarbara HersheyThe life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross.
- DirectorJeff BurrStarsKate HodgeKen ForeeR.A. MihailoffA California couple and a survivalist encounter Leatherface and his family.
- DirectorDennis DimsterStarsBrian BonsallJosie BissettAshley LaurenceA seemingly sweet and innocent little boy causes murder and mayhem in his new neighborhood and falls for the teenage girl next door.UK
Still banned to this day. Related to the James Bulger case. See: The Good Son (1993). - DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsHarvey KeitelTim RothMichael MadsenWhen a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
- DirectorJoseph RubenStarsMacaulay CulkinElijah WoodWendy CrewsonA young boy stays with his aunt and uncle and becomes friends with his cousin, a boy of the same age who shows increasing signs of violent and psychopathic behavior.
- DirectorOliver StoneStarsWoody HarrelsonJuliette LewisTom SizemoreTwo victims of traumatized childhoods become lovers and psychopathic serial murderers irresponsibly glorified by the mass media.