THX 1138 "preservations" + the 'THX 1138 Italian Cut' project (Released) — Page 9

and this George Lucas debut doesn't seems to be that important in many eyes these days

I think this film has never been important to most of the people anyway so we will act accordingly and move ourselves to save it, as best as we can. I gave my contribution for what I could do (subtitle and, of course, sharing my italian version... I'm still hunting for an original tape to see if they all had that beginning and possibly get an even higher quality version... well as high as a VHS can be).

I was hit by this film since I first saw it and in my opinion (I'm sure several people will agree with me) it's a piece of art and a masterpiece which needs to be preserved from the dark side of the digital restoring.

Since we will never collect enough signatures to ask Lucasfilm for an original release like it happened for Star Wars, we will have to do it ourselves, no matter how few are interested into the film.

Although I have near-zero technical skills and I cannot contribuite directly into the creation of this DVD I appreciate imensely the effort you two are putting into it, no matter how amateur it could be.

Not yet

That stuff on ebay is really expensive! I wonder what's the story behind it, how they retrieved such rare photographs (one of the sellers is from Germany so they must have travelled a bit).

I'm still hoping to find some friend who, by chance, has THX on VHS because on Ebay Italy people have stopped selling VHS and if they do they cost a small fortune. The only other option is to phone up a far-away-up-in-the-north public library, ask them to play the tape for me and tell me what's the beginning of the film like!

A very uncomfortable thing to ask over the phone to some unknown librarian.

Anyway I keep my hopes up. From what I can understand we're not in any particular hurry, I trust that I will eventually find a VHS of this film (so allowing us to have a better quality version and finally confirm if the film was released in Italy with the flashback or not).

SilverWook said:

It's a little disheartening I can see more fine detail in what erri_wan sent me.

What other small differences did you notice from the Italian version Silver?

Actually, GP wasn't dropped - GP was changed into PG.

*Unnecessary, off-topic ramblings about the MPAA ratings' history below*

The original ratings, from 1968 to 1970, were:

G (same as today; General Audiences, all ages admitted)
M (Equivalent to the PG rating before PG-13 was introduced; Mature Audiences, all ages admitted)
R (same as today; Restricted Audiences, children under 16 required adult accompaniment)
X (not trademarked like the others; no one under 16 admitted, period)

In 1970, since people kept getting M (Mature Audiences) and R (Restricted Audiences) confused, they changed the M rating to GP.  They also raised the admitted ages of R and X films to 17.

So, the second set of ratings, from 1970 to 1972, were:

G (General Audiences; all ages admitted)
GP (Parental Guidance Suggested; all ages admited)
R (Restricted Audiences; under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)
X (No one under 17 admitted)

By 1971, people were complaining about the GP rating, claiming that it wasn't indicative of the content of the film (it was perceived as too close to a "G" rating, since the G came before the P).  During this time, special indicators ("This film may not be suitable for pre-teenagers") were used.

In 1972, the MPAA changed the GP rating to PG in order to address this issue - now, with the P coming first instead of the G, it was different enough from G that people could tell the difference.

1972 to 1984:

G (General Audiences, all ages admitted)
PG (Parental Guidance Suggested - Some Material May Not Be Suitable for Pre-Teenagers; all ages admitted)
R (Restricted Audiences; under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)
X (No one under 17 admitted)

Then, in 1984, complaints that too many PG-rated films were too violent for such a "soft" rating became overwhelming with the releases of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins (both rated PG).  Steven Spielberg suggested to then-MPAA president Jack Valenti that they should create an intermediate rating (he suggested PG-14).  After conferring with theater owners, PG-13 was unveiled in 1984.

1984 to 1990:

G (General Audiences, all ages admitted)
PG (Parental Guidance Suggested - Some Material May Not Be Suitable for Children; all ages admitted)
PG-13 (Parents are Strongly Cautioned to Give Special Guidance for Attendance of Children Under 13 - Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Young Children; all ages admitted)
R (Restricted; under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)
X (No one under 17 admitted)

In 1986, the wording of PG-13 was changed to the more succinct "Parents Strongly Cautioned - Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13."

Now, all this time, the MPAA hadn't trademarked the X rating.  Therefore, it could be used by anybody - and it was, particularly by the porn industry.  Because of this, the X rating had a strong "porn stigma" attached to it, and it was damned near impossible to get a film released with an X rating in the United States.

So, in 1990, the MPAA changed the rating to NC-17 and trademarked it.

1990 to present:

G (General Audiences; all ages admitted)
PG (Parental Guidance Suggested; all ages admitted)
PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned; all ages admitted)
R (Restricted; under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian)
NC-17 (No children under 17 admitted)

Before the turn of the millennium, the NC-17 age limit was raised by changing the wording.  It currently reads "No children 17 and under admitted," effectively making it "NC-18," without having to change and re-trademark the logo.

And there you have it - the history of the MPAA rating symbols, all in one off-topic post!

*Back on topic*

So anyway, my point is, THX 1138 was always rated PG until the Director's Cut was released - it was just rated PG before the rating was called PG.

SilverWook, could you provide a scan of the lobby card?  I've never seen an X rating attached to THX 1138 in any way.  Not that I doubt you, I'm just curious.

Boy that's confusing, we've only got restrictions by age, usually 14 and 18 (and X for porn), that's it! No indication on the content of the film (at least at the cinema, on DVD covers they might me more specific).

In Italy we can watch Eyes Wide Shut since 14 years old while in the UK they have to wait till they're 18.

THX is set to 14 in Italy and 15 in the UK. Instead, Finnish kids can watch LUH's "nudities" since 11 years old.

msycamore said:

Ah, now I see it. ;) apparently it was rated X in UK originally, so it's probably a lobby card made for UK cinemas, yeah it's weird but we're talking about the country who put Sam Raimi in court for The Evil Dead in the eighties so it's not that hard to believe, 15 is the UK video rating, erri_wan.

ChainsawAsh-- the lobby card we're talking about is linked in his post.

This is interesting.

According to the BBFC, a 95-minute cut was rated X in 1971.

In 1988, an 82-minute cut (home video, so about 86 minutes without PAL speedup) was rated 15.  Another 82-minute home video cut was rated 15 in 1992.  This is the "original" (laserdisc) cut.

In 2004, an 84-minute cut (also home video, so about 88 minutes minus PAL speedup) was rated 12.  This is the 2004 Director's Cut.

But the 1971 theatrical cut was 81 minutes.  What the hell is this 95-minute, X-rated version released in the UK in 1971?  Could that have included trailers or something?

ChainsawAsh said:

What the hell is this 95-minute, X-rated version released in the UK in 1971?  Could that have included trailers or something?

Maybe they cut away some old-fashioned porn scenes lol

Lucas, old perv!

Yes it was probably 85 and they wrote 95. I doubt such long version ever existed.

85 is still 4 minutes longer than the 1971 theatrical cut.  Would this mean that the "original" cut was aired unaltered in the UK in 1971?

Wow.  There's some great history in this thread.  I will keep watching with great interest.  Time to dig out the "Creative Impulse" book and the DC DVD.  I was mad when the original cut wasn't included, but not suprised.  I had it on VHS, taped off of HBO or something from the 80's, until it disintegrated.  I went to the store with a smile when I heard about the DVD, and although I still bought it, felt incomplete.  I'm glad some people are thinking about preserving it.  Thanks!

Kenobius Prime said:

I went to the store with a smile when I heard about the DVD

Yeah we were all in for a big surprise when we went to buy the DVD. I ordered it online as soon as it was available, having no idea that films could be altered years later. Sigh