I first saw this film in 1959 as a 7 year old while on holiday in Ireland. I remember feeling very scared watching it. It was part of a double bill with "The Attack of the Crab Monsters", another equally scary film for a child of such tender years. Both were rated "X certificate" by the UK censor.
The reason for my review is that I've just watched a doc on TV which deals with censorship in Ireland from 1923 to 1980 and one of the films discussed was "Casablanca", which in my opinion is the greatest film ever made. Though released in 1942, it was not shown until 1945. In those days, Ireland only had one certification, and any film that had content that was deemed "offensive", had to be cut, or was denied a certificate. The offending bit in this case was the portrayal of the Germans, quite rightly, as the villains.
At that time, they were treading a path of strict neutrality and they did not want to show the film in case it led to an anti-German backlash. To give some idea of how rigidly they stuck to this policy, when Hitler committed suicide, the then Irish Prime Minister, Eamonn De Valera, signed the book of condolence at the Germany Embassy in Dublin after Hitler's death
But I digress. Thinking about Irish censorship compared to the UK version and remembering how scared I was watching this X cert double bill, I wonder how scary the uncensored version must have been?
In case anyone is unaware, the film is considered a "Cold War allegory" with the invaders from Davanna representing an attempt by the Russians to take over the world.
The reason for my review is that I've just watched a doc on TV which deals with censorship in Ireland from 1923 to 1980 and one of the films discussed was "Casablanca", which in my opinion is the greatest film ever made. Though released in 1942, it was not shown until 1945. In those days, Ireland only had one certification, and any film that had content that was deemed "offensive", had to be cut, or was denied a certificate. The offending bit in this case was the portrayal of the Germans, quite rightly, as the villains.
At that time, they were treading a path of strict neutrality and they did not want to show the film in case it led to an anti-German backlash. To give some idea of how rigidly they stuck to this policy, when Hitler committed suicide, the then Irish Prime Minister, Eamonn De Valera, signed the book of condolence at the Germany Embassy in Dublin after Hitler's death
But I digress. Thinking about Irish censorship compared to the UK version and remembering how scared I was watching this X cert double bill, I wonder how scary the uncensored version must have been?
In case anyone is unaware, the film is considered a "Cold War allegory" with the invaders from Davanna representing an attempt by the Russians to take over the world.