reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (12/04/84)
I recently saw a screening of a more complete version of Ken Russell's
"Crimes of Passion". I had liked the cut version, and this one was a bit
better. The major excisions were many shots of erotic art (mostly Beardsly
and oriental art), a lengthy silhoutted scene of lovemaking demonstrating a
substantial subset of the Kama Sutra, and a bondage sex scene involving a
hooker and a policeman which culminates in her sodomizing him with his
billyclub. Actually, there was even more material which was cut, but that
seems to be lost forever, for better or worse. The cut material does help
explain motivations, so it's rather a pity it was removed, but there is no
question that it went beyond what is normally shown in an R rated movie (though
still far short of hardcore pornography). The writer of the screenplay, who
was present, disavowed the cut version, and disavowed it for Russell, too.
This seems a bit extreme, as "Crimes of Passion" was substantially the same
film even after the cuts. At any rate, the uncut version will be released
on videocassette in the near future.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@ucla-cs.arpa
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher