What's the oldest film that would be rated 18 if released today?

[Fez909]

Some older films that have 18 ratings, would probably be 15 if released today: Seems like 18 ratings are hard to come by these days.

I just checked the BBFC site and saw a series rated 15 with these comments:

BBFCInsight - strong bloody violence, gore, strong sex, strong language, sexual violence

So, whats the oldest film that would retain it's 18 rating if released now?

 

[Geri]

Pyscho

 

[Fez909]

Pyscho

15 - PSYCHO | British Board of Film Classification

 

[Pickman's model]

 

[8den]

Some older films that have 18 ratings, would probably be 15 if released today: Seems like 18 ratings are hard to come by these days.

I just checked the BBFC site and saw a series rated 15 with these comments:


So, whats the oldest film that would retain it's 18 rating if released now?

I have on VHS somewhere a copy of "the bad old good times" a selection of porn films from the silent era. (and not here's a bit of an ankle, lesbian nuns, shagging the works)

Birth of a Nation probably wouldn't get a cert right now, because of it's clearly racist message.

 

[Pickman's model]

Birth of a Nation probably wouldn't get a cert right now, because of it's clearly racist message.

yeh that's what i thought but i don't know what it was originally rated.

 

[Kaka Tim]

hmmm - good question.

The first hardcore porn film was made in 1910 - according to What It Was Like: First Porn - Bird In Flight

Other than porn ... probably something arthouse like un chein andalou - 1930s
Un Chien Andalou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Fez909]

yeh that's what i thought but i don't know what it was originally rated.

Another 15 - THE BIRTH OF A NATION | British Board of Film Classification

 

[Fez909]

hmmm - good question.

The first hardcore porn film was made in 1910 - according to What It Was Like: First Porn - Bird In Flight

Other than porn ... probably something arthouse like un chein andalou - 1930s
Un Chien Andalou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That also got a 15 - UN CHIEN ANDALOU | British Board of Film Classification

 

[andysays]

From the same year (1960) as Psycho

Peeping Tom

 

[Lurdan]

From the same year (1960) as Psycho

Peeping Tom

Nope - reclassified 15 in 2010

 

[Fez909]

There are two films listed on the BBFC that have an X pre-1950 (an arbitary date I chose). One is called Orage. The other is called The Return of the Vampire.

Anyone seen either?

Orage sounds very tame and unlikely to even get a 15 these days. Vampire looks like a 12A from the trailer.

 

[andysays]

Nope - reclassified 15 in 2010

That's not what the BBFC site I've linked to suggests. Where do you get your info from?

ETA my mistake, that info is included on that page but for some reason it's hidden behind something else you have to click on to reveal it.

 

[Fez909]

Wow, some X rated films from the 50s have been reclassified as PG and even U in one case.

Did X rated mean something different back then? I thought it meant 18+, but can't see how you could go from 18 to U, even with the new lenient classification!

 

[Fez909]

That's not what the BBFC site I've linked to suggests. Where do you get your info from?

PEEPING TOM | British Board of Film Classification

 

[Lurdan]

That's not what the BBFC site I've linked to suggests. Where do you get your info from?

The BBFC site You need to click on the related work drop down to see the latest classifications.

 

[andysays]

The BBFC site You need to click on the related work drop down to see the latest classifications.

Yeah, I see that now...

 

[Fez909]

Birth of a Nation probably wouldn't get a cert right now, because of it's clearly racist message.

Interestingly, that's the only one I've seen so far that's had its classification increased. From a U on release, to a 15 in 1994.

 

[Griff]

Interesting to see Vanishing Point & Easy Rider are both still 18s. Watched Easy Rider again the other night after not seeing it in many years and forgot how good it actually is.

 

[Lurdan]

Wow, some X rated films from the 50s have been reclassified as PG and even U in one case.

Did X rated mean something different back then? I thought it meant 18+, but can't see how you could go from 18 to U, even with the new lenient classification!

Censorship was rather different in the 50s. For one thing X certificates meant over 16 until the end of the 60s. And attitudes were very different. When Bride of Frankenstein was reissued in the 50s (originally A cert) it was classified X and cuts were insisted on. This was only a year or two before Hammer films began making gothics in colour. Films which had been banned in the 1930s such as Freaks and Island of Lost Souls were only granted certificates in the 1960s.

 

[Orang Utan]

Wow, some X rated films from the 50s have been reclassified as PG and even U in one case.

Did X rated mean something different back then? I thought it meant 18+, but can't see how you could go from 18 to U, even with the new lenient classification!

Dracula (the Christopher Lee version) is a PG now.

 

[andysays]

Crafty use of the Search function on that BBFC site suggests that the earliest released film which still has an 18cert is Reckless (1935), which was last rated in 1986.

 

[8den]

Interestingly, that's the only one I've seen so far that's had its classification increased. From a U on release, to a 15 in 1994.

The 1st half deals with the civil war, the 2nd half features the birth of the KKK, in what can only be described as "romanticising" and features the heroic Klan riding out to kill a ex slave who has murdered the innocent southern Belle.

There's a wonderful book called "Adventures in the Screen Trade" written by Billy Bitzer (Griffin's Cameraman) assistant. It's a charming and beautiful account of what it was like to be a teenager at the birth of Hollywood, slightly let down by the author's attempt to defend Birth of Nation's clearly racist motifs.

 

[Lurdan]

Interesting to see Vanishing Point & Easy Rider are both still 18s. Watched Easy Rider again the other night after not seeing it in many years and forgot how good it actually is.

Yeah lot of the usual suspects from the early 70s are still 18 - The Devils, Clockwork Orange, Straw Dogs for example.

I'd imagine there are quite a few exploitation films from the 60s which are too - some of the Jess Franco's for example. Bear in mind that many of these will only have been released originally in heavily cut forms, or indeed were banned.

 

[Orang Utan]

Earliest 18 Certificate? [Archive] - Forums @ The Digital Fix

 

[8den]

Crafty use of the Search function on that BBFC site suggests that the earliest released film which still has an 18cert is Reckless (1935), which was last rated in 1986.

Um thats the wrong Reckless. Unless Darryl Hannah and Aidan Quinn were working in 1935.

 

[bimble]

Not 18 certificate, just illegal/ impossible.
I love this song.

 

[Lurdan]

EDIT : ha ha - should have followed my own advice about the BBFC site.

 

[Orang Utan]

Not 18 certificate, just illegal/ impossible.
I love this song.

What's illegal? Bugsy Malone is a PG

 

[Lurdan]

Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace from 1964 is currently an 18. (Last classified 2015)