- The original French version is much more risque than the heavily edited US version in at least one scene and probably others: the scene where Maria Schell has a catfight with Suzy Delair, which ends with Schell spanking Delair with a wooden paddle, is much more explicit in the French version which includes scenes of Suzy Delairs' bare behind getting whacked.
- Art Cinema postwar film culture, allowed the original version of GERVAISE (1956) to be made in France, with 116 minutes running time. Unfortunately GERVAISE (1956) became the very heavily edited "Australian Film Censorship Board" true cinéaste version of this brand new release of a foreign language film, with a shorter running time of 112 minutes, when finally released in Australia in 1958. Cleverly re-edited scenes, there were no obvious signs that a total of four minutes of image and soundtrack and English language subtitles had been removed. CUSTOMS (CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS) REGULATIONS 1956 No.94 was the Australian Government Commonwealth Legislation, that prevented Australians from sitting in a cinema watching the original version of films that without cuts would be "blasphemous, indecent or obscene, OR likely to be injurious to morality, OR to encourage or incite to crime, OR a matter the exhibition of which is undesirable in the public interest." All female nudity had to be removed, cat-fighting between Gervaise Macquart Coupeau (Maria Schell) and Virginie Poisson (Suzy Delairs) was minimized, and those sadistic and brutal acts of Gervaise Macquart Coupeau (Maria Schell) slapping the bare buttocks of Virginie Poisson (Suzy Delairs) with the wooden paddle (washerwoman's battledore) were removed.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content