Comments

1. Casino Royale Uncut Movies

• Posts: 13,268

  OK, my eyesight is going! The five of Spades it is, not seven! I don't care. Not one bit. ;) (No, it's not working...)
• Posts: 345

  Will any other films have their ratings changed or is that it now?
  No other films set to be upped to a 12 from a PG rating?

  
  I think Live & Let Die will get a 12 rating.
  
• Posts: 66

  Does anyone know why there is no commentary on the two Craig films and no deleted scenes on the DVD?

  
  There are deleted scenes on the Casino Royale Deluxe DVD (the full uncut 'Cricket Match' PTS etc) and seeing as Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond movie ever, there HAS to be loads of deleted scenes. We know for definite that Marc Foster cut the 'Bond, James Bond' line and of course- a major deleted scene from Quantum of Solace was Mr.White shooting Guy Haines. This clip shows the end of the QoS video game which includes the original (but deleted) ending of the movie.... but right at the end of the clip, there is brief deleted footage of the filming of the actual scene with Jesper Christenson.....
  
• Posts: 66

  Just to let people know, annoyingly/amazingly the US edition is the previously CUT PG-13 version. Plus, the extras found on the Deluxe Edition are NOT on the Bond 50 set.
  A real sham, I feel.
• Posts: 33,741

  The edition of CR I have on blu-ray (didn't bring it up to college, but it's the Ultimate/Deluxe/Collector's, what have you, edition) had some excellent special features and all the deleted scenes. It's a real shame they aren't all like this. QoS didn't come with a single deleted scene.
• edited September 2012Posts: 13,268

  Just to let people know, annoyingly/amazingly the US edition is the previously CUT PG-13 version. Plus, the extras found on the Deluxe Edition are NOT on the Bond 50 set.
  A real sham, I feel.

  
  Unbelievable. I'm now even more pleased I didn't buy the Bond 50 set.
• Posts: 2

  Not sure what you mean 'set to be upped'. Nothing is set, the BBFC only makes that decision if the company resubmits a film for classification. We don't know until they review it.
  Most of the earlier films have passed at the same level (including Thunderball, which surprised me). GoldenEye has retained its ridiculous '15' rating, as has Licence to Kill. Both are uncut, as per the UE DVDs. Unless we see a proper uncut Quantum of Solace, I think that's the only one that we can hope to see uncut. And whatever happened to Marc Foster's alternate version that was apparently coming?

  
  According to the latest BBFC podcast, Diamonds are Forever (same cut as before) has been moved up from PG to 12 because of the bikini throttling scene at the beginning.
  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/node/408381
• Posts: 803

  I would not mind getting the uncut version at all!
• Posts: 319

  I thought all the set was 12 bar License To Kill? Casino Royale and Quantum are definitely 12s.
• Posts: 10,432

  Anyone else think the cricket match is a bit 'Midsomer Murders' (TV drama for non-brits). I think it was a good move to cut it. Fun to see as an extra though.
• Posts: 803

  Anyone else think the cricket match is a bit 'Midsomer Murders' (TV drama for non-brits). I think it was a good move to cut it. Fun to see as an extra though.

  I do agree it was a good cut. That said, there are other bits that got left out I very much enjoyed and think added to the movie.
  
• Posts: 4,245

  Anyone else think the cricket match is a bit 'Midsomer Murders' (TV drama for non-brits). I think it was a good move to cut it. Fun to see as an extra though.

  I do agree it was a good cut. That said, there are other bits that got left out I very much enjoyed and think added to the movie.
  

  
  The ommission of the cricket scene was a worthy cut, it really didn't add to the sequence and if anything is rather jarring. CR, like SF seemed to be nipped and tucked a fair bit throughout, with little scenes and moments ending up on the cutting room floor as well as bigger more expansive scenes. Personally, I think its a great loss that Bond and Mathis in the hospital didn't make it into the final cut, Bond trying to grab the scissors and failing is a really great moment, so its a shame that it wasn't considered worthy.
• It was this or the priesthood.

  Oh CR, where oh where is a definitive version of all you have to offer? :-<
• Posts: 115

  Not sure what you mean 'set to be upped'. Nothing is set, the BBFC only makes that decision if the company resubmits a film for classification. We don't know until they review it.
  Most of the earlier films have passed at the same level (including Thunderball, which surprised me). GoldenEye has retained its ridiculous '15' rating, as has Licence to Kill. Both are uncut, as per the UE DVDs. Unless we see a proper uncut Quantum of Solace, I think that's the only one that we can hope to see uncut. And whatever happened to Marc Foster's alternate version that was apparently coming?

  
  According to the latest BBFC podcast, Diamonds are Forever (same cut as before) has been moved up from PG to 12 because of the bikini throttling scene at the beginning.
  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/node/408381

  
  So just in case a 7 year old is lucky enough to pause it on the one frame in which there's a flash of nipple, a whole rating up?
  Bart Simpson's penis is fully exposed and emphasised for about 5 seconds in The Simpsons Movie for goodness sake. (Rated PG)
  
• 'One of the Internet's more toxic individuals'

  Not sure what you mean 'set to be upped'. Nothing is set, the BBFC only makes that decision if the company resubmits a film for classification. We don't know until they review it.
  Most of the earlier films have passed at the same level (including Thunderball, which surprised me). GoldenEye has retained its ridiculous '15' rating, as has Licence to Kill. Both are uncut, as per the UE DVDs. Unless we see a proper uncut Quantum of Solace, I think that's the only one that we can hope to see uncut. And whatever happened to Marc Foster's alternate version that was apparently coming?

  
  According to the latest BBFC podcast, Diamonds are Forever (same cut as before) has been moved up from PG to 12 because of the bikini throttling scene at the beginning.
  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/node/408381

  
  So just in case a 7 year old is lucky enough to pause it on the one frame in which there's a flash of nipple, a whole rating up?
  Bart Simpson's penis is fully exposed and emphasised for about 5 seconds in The Simpsons Movie for goodness sake. (Rated PG)

  
  Its not that hard now with DVD. Back in the day I had a nightmare of a time trying to do it on VHS though!
• Posts: 2

  Not sure what you mean 'set to be upped'. Nothing is set, the BBFC only makes that decision if the company resubmits a film for classification. We don't know until they review it.
  Most of the earlier films have passed at the same level (including Thunderball, which surprised me). GoldenEye has retained its ridiculous '15' rating, as has Licence to Kill. Both are uncut, as per the UE DVDs. Unless we see a proper uncut Quantum of Solace, I think that's the only one that we can hope to see uncut. And whatever happened to Marc Foster's alternate version that was apparently coming?

  
  According to the latest BBFC podcast, Diamonds are Forever (same cut as before) has been moved up from PG to 12 because of the bikini throttling scene at the beginning.
  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/node/408381

  
  So just in case a 7 year old is lucky enough to pause it on the one frame in which there's a flash of nipple, a whole rating up?
  Bart Simpson's penis is fully exposed and emphasised for about 5 seconds in The Simpsons Movie for goodness sake. (Rated PG)

  
  The problem they had wasn't so much to do with nudity, PG guidelines allow for brief, mild nudity. The problem was more that it constituted an act of sexual violence, tearing women's clothes off is one thing but using the clothes to strangle them takes it to another level. It marks how attitudes have changed since the early seventies (something we hear quite a lot at the moment with regard to the Jimmy Savile scandal at the BBC). Some aspects are treated more leniently by governing bodies: License to Kill had to be edited to even make the 15 category in the 80s but now the uncut version sits quite comfortably in the category. At the same time, scenes that feature objectionable treatment of women like the one in DAF are now being pushed up a certificate. In the podcast they speak of how the scene is often cut when it is shown on television during the day, another indicator of whether the PG certificate is appropriate.
• Posts: 3

  I have both copies of Casino Royale. The Original Blu Ray (supposedly cut) has a running time of approx 144 mins. The one from the Daniel Craig box set has a running time of approx 138 mins. How so if it is supposed to be uncut? I have watched both torture scenes and there seems to be no difference and the running time of the scene is the same on both copies, yet the box set copy has still been up rated to 15. Can anyone shed some light on this for me?
• Posts: 13,268

  It's likely one is a Region 2/B PAL version, meaning the films runs at 24 frames per second instead of the standard 25. This means the film is over in 96% of the original time, so 138 minutes instead of 144.
• Posts: 3

  The only difference I can see in the torture scenes is the rope over the shoulder and Le Shiffre saying, 'Such a waste'.
• Posts: 3

  How that makes it unsuitable for 12, 13 or 14 year olds, I don't know!
• Posts: 13,268

  Those are the only real differences between the two. It must be due to implied violence.
• Posts: 66

  It's likely one is a Region 2/B PAL version, meaning the films runs at 24 frames per second instead of the standard 25. This means the film is over in 96% of the original time, so 138 minutes instead of 144.

  
  There is no PAL/NTSC issue with Blu-ray. Its a standard at 24fps worldwide - the original framerate. Unless its UK TV material, which is 25fps.
• edited April 2013Posts: 13,268

  Oops! Of course not. What could @TomLockPhoto's problem be then? One BD running for less time than the other?
• Posts: 66

  Did you just check the cover, Tom, or did you actually put both discs in to confirm the running times? Many covers have incorrect running times printed on them by accident.
• Posts: 1,385

  @GavSalkeld Hi there, new user here from the U.S. searching for a completely uncut (none of the MPAA or BBFC edits to torture scene) region free version of Casino Royale on blu ray. I wanted to ask if you had one of the UK blu rays with the 15 rating and if you do if I might trouble you for region information from the back cover. I've looked all over the web and can't seem to find images of the back cover of this release.
• Posts: 66

  I can confirm the 15-rated UK 50th anniversary release (with the gold 007 lettering on the front) is fully uncut and Region Free. It will play on any Blu-ray player. More information with video comparisons here:
  http://melonfarmers.co.uk/bbfc_cuts_casino_royale.htm
• Posts: 1,385

  Thank you very much! Does anyone happen to know if the Sept. 2015 individual UK blu ray release of Casino Royale with the gold 007 lettering, 15 rating and Ultraviolet is also region free?
• Posts: 66

  I would expect so, yes. The only 15-rated version that has ever been classified has no MPAA or BBFC cuts, i.e. it matches the so-called 'R-rated version' that first appeared on the Hong Kong R3 DVD all those years ago. Ten years! Where did the time go?
• Posts: 1,385

  Alright. Thank you so much! The newer ultraviolet version is about half the cost so I just wanted to double check and make sure it's merely a repackaging of the 50th anniversary and still region free.
• Posts: 66

  I cannot vouch for it being Region Free but I see no reason why they would suddenly change it.

Daniel Craig became the sixth actor to portray James Bond in the celebrated Eon film series with the 2006 release of Casino Royale. Craig's performance presented a darker and more human portrayal of Bond, very much in the same manner thatTimothy Dalton had pioneered in his two Bond films almost 20 years earlier. Dalton himself went on to praise both the film and Craig's performance, saying he was delighted for him .

Whilst Casino Royale went on to be a huge success with critics and audiences alike, the film was beset by censorship problems in many territories across the world, with at least five different cuts of the film being released in various countriesaround the globe. For instance, Chinese audiences had some luck in that Casino Royale was the first James Bond film to ever be officially released in China, although the Chinese censors did cut the film and demanded that a line mentioning the Cold War beredubbed to instead make a vague reference to the old times. As another example, the German release was practically uncut, but one small change was made to an undetailed neck break to secure an FSK-12 rating. Other countries got an uncut version,whilst the United States and the United Kingdom got two entirely separate cut versions.

1. Casino Royale is a American spy movie that is part of the James Bond franchise, the movie was made by MGM and Columbia Pictures. The movie was released in November 17, 2006. Due to the movie targeting a PG-13 rating in America, a 12 rating in Germany and a 12a rating in the UK it was censored. The violence was toned down in order to get these ratings. 1 Censorship 1.1 UK Censorship 1.2 USA.
2. We're sorry but jw-app doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
3. Starring Daniel Craig, Daud Shah as Fisher and Malcolm Sinclair as Dryden. Full pretitles scene from Casino Royale - Bond Gets His Double O Status; includes.

In this edition of Cutting Edge, we'll be primarily focusing on the changes that were made to director Martin Campbell's original uncut version for boththe UK and US releases of the film, and the results say a lot about the different attitudes taken by the two different censor boards on both sides of the Atlantic.

Aug 16, 2012 James Bond - Casino Royale: Uncut in UK after all BBFC lists new rating for Craig's first mission Daniel Craig's first mission as James Bond called Casino Royale came out in 2006 and is one of the most censored films of the whole series worldwide. In 2012, Sony resubmitted Casino Royale to the BBFC for the film's Blu-ray release as part of James Bond's 50th anniversary celebrations. They submitted the original uncut version of the film, which was passed by the Board on August 13th 2012 with a 15 rating, and all previous cuts were waived.

Seeking BBFC advice on torture

After production wrapped in 2006, director Martin Campbell was in the process of editing Casino Royale in England and an unfinished rough cutof the film was submitted to the BBFC by the film's distributors, Sony Pictures, for advice on how to achieve a 12A rating for the final UK release. Although the film has some particularly violent scenes, the BBFC took issue with only one part of thefilm - the torture of James Bond by the film's chief villain, Le Chiffre. This important sequence (in both Ian Fleming's novel and the film itself) sees Le Chiffre repeatedly beating Bond in his testicles with a knotted rope; although in the novel acarpet beater is used. The BBFC declared that the film's torture scene contained too much emphasis on both the infliction of pain and the sadism of the villain and later commented:

Casino Royale sat on theborderline between '12A' and '15' when first seen in unfinished form. The BBFC advised the distributor that the violence would need to be toned down if the desired '12A' category was to be achieved. The version submitted for formal classification [was]appropriately placed at the upper end of '12A'... where the [BBFC] Guidelines permit violence provided there is no dwelling on detail or emphasis on injuries.

Minor changes were suggested to the filmmakers following the adviceviewing, including:

...the removal of lingering shots of the rope, close shots of Bond's facial reaction and the substitution of a more distant shot of the beating.

Submission to the BBFC

Following a formal submission of Casino Royale to the BBFC, it was passed without further cuts with a 12A rating on October 30th 2006. After suffering numerous BBFC cuts to his 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye, Martin Campbell was surprised that suchminor changes were all that was required to Casino Royale:

In England, they didn't give a damn, and said that the violence is terrific. It was amazing to me that they let as much through as they did.

On the other hand, the reaction from the British cinema-going public was not quite so terrific. As the BBFC later stated in their Annual Report:

Any one of our decisions may be controversial or at least subject tochallenge and criticism. For example, were we right to make Casino Royale '12A', despite some scenes of violence and torture?

[It] was the most complained about film in 2006. The majority were about the level of violence in thefilm, commenting that it should have been a '15'. It was felt by some [that] the torture scene was still considered very strong despite being reduced.

The pre-cut UK cinema version was later passed with a 12 rating by the BBFC in February 2007 and releasedon DVD and Blu-ray.

No problems with torture in the US... but the MPAA required cuts to fight scenes

Martin Campbell submitted the uncut version of the film to the MPAA in the United States, with Sony Pictures keen to secure a PG-13 rating. In anunexpected move, the MPAA - usually more lenient on violence in action films than the BBFC - stated that cuts would be required in two of the film's major fight scenes before a rating would be awarded. As it stood, the uncut version would receive an Rrating; a rating that Sony were not willing to accept. In an interview with M2E Pictures, Martin Campbell spoke about the American treatment of Casino Royale:

You have to have a PG-13 rating, you can't have a stifferone, otherwise you'll be in serious problems on Bond. So the point is it has to be a sort of general audience movie. In the States, we took out a tiny bit of violence at the beginning of the movie, and a little bit in the machete fight. Oddly enough theAmericans let the torture scene go through without a cut.

Following these alterations, the US version was passed with a PG-13 rating and this version was released on both DVD and Blu-ray.

International Versions

Unlikemany previous Bond films which have only ever been available with at least some censor cuts permanently incorporated into all final release prints, the uncut version of Casino Royale was actually released intact in many parts of the world - Australia,France, Holland, Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal, Scandinavia and Taiwan all received uncut DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film. The Russian DVD release was also uncut, although the Blu-ray contains the cut UK version with the shortened torture scene.

Celebrating James Bond's 50th anniversary with an uncut release in the UK (but not the US)

Casino Royale Uncut Movies

In 2012, Sony resubmitted Casino Royale to the BBFC for the film's Blu-ray release as part of JamesBond's 50th anniversary celebrations. They submitted the original uncut version of the film, which was passed by the Board on August 13th 2012 with a 15 rating, and all previous cuts were waived. The UK now has a fully uncut version of the film, withnone of the BBFC or MPAA edits. All of the fight scenes are intact, and the torture scene is uncut. However, the 12-rated DVD releases still contain the cut UK version.