Editing and censorship. A dreaded combination and to many an
artist as it usually represented an oppressive authoritarian regime trying to control the minds of the masses or protect the social norms or any given society. There’s also a lesser used version of censorship and that’s to protect military or strategic secrets. I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of censorship as it is a part of life as an editor, most likely it will happen to
change the rating of the film being worked on from an “R” to a snazzy “PG-13.”
Back in 1942, World War 2 was raging and a great many
studios were “enlisted” in the war effort then to make informational and propaganda films for servicemen and the American public as a whole. This
partnership between Hollywoodand the American Government produced hundreds of films. One of the more interesting stories from that time is what happened at the Walt Disney Studios. When the war started, the Hollywood Studios lost a lot of their European and lesser extent Asian box offices. The Studios were hurting for revenue and especially the Disney Studio which had just built their large Burbank Studios and increased their man power.
The Government was afraid of growing NAZI sympathies in
South America and wanted a good will tour of American celebrities. Walt Disney needed income and so he and some of his creative staff set off to South America, and by many accounts it was a great success. Years ago I was working on some Disney video materials as they were being prepared for the 2000 DVD release of Saludos Amigos. One of the bonus materials was a short 33 minute documentary for the Office of Inter-American Affairs titled South of the Border With
Disney. Which chronicled their adventures across the southern continent and
at around the 20 minute mark as the airplane is flying over the high Andes, and whenever people looked outside it was cut to a wartime censorship card and I recall the narrator mentioning that photos of the pass were top secret.
Walt Disney: “The flight across the Andes into Chile over the highest mountains in America. Plenty to see and remember on this spectacular trip. Since no cameras are allowed here the boys have to cover this from memory and sketches. Impressions of Uspallata Pass from 16,000 feet.”
This puzzled me as I live in a world now where everything is googlemapped. But in the 1940’s it made sense as planes could only fly low altitudes and this was the
only real pass to travel from Chile toArgentinaas later the Disney Studios
expanded on in their cartoon short: Pedro the little Chilean air mail plane. The point was the War Time Censorship office didn’t want to give away any possible visual information to an enemy power. Paranoia? Maybe, could the Axis powers already know the route? Probably. Then again better safe then sorry. So in 1942 this made sense. Fast forward to the 1950’s and this was included in Walt Disney’s TV program and that Censorhip card and wartime narration are now out-of-date and an annoyance. Has to be fixed. Answer: editing. Insert shots of the Andes replacing the Censorship cards and edit out the wartime references in the narration.
If you get a chance and are interested in Walt Disney’s
trip to South America, check out Walt
and El Grupo on DVD. It’s a bit nostaligic overall but it does a pretty good
job of capturing the feel of that era and what Walt and his friends experienced
on a good-will trip in war time. Also if you ever find a pre-DVD version
(laserdisc or vhs) of South of the Border With Disney rumor has it has
the original wartime censorship cards in it.
artist as it usually represented an oppressive authoritarian regime trying to control the minds of the masses or protect the social norms or any given society. There’s also a lesser used version of censorship and that’s to protect military or strategic secrets. I’m not going to debate the pros and cons of censorship as it is a part of life as an editor, most likely it will happen to
change the rating of the film being worked on from an “R” to a snazzy “PG-13.”
Back in 1942, World War 2 was raging and a great many
studios were “enlisted” in the war effort then to make informational and propaganda films for servicemen and the American public as a whole. This
partnership between Hollywoodand the American Government produced hundreds of films. One of the more interesting stories from that time is what happened at the Walt Disney Studios. When the war started, the Hollywood Studios lost a lot of their European and lesser extent Asian box offices. The Studios were hurting for revenue and especially the Disney Studio which had just built their large Burbank Studios and increased their man power.
The Government was afraid of growing NAZI sympathies in
South America and wanted a good will tour of American celebrities. Walt Disney needed income and so he and some of his creative staff set off to South America, and by many accounts it was a great success. Years ago I was working on some Disney video materials as they were being prepared for the 2000 DVD release of Saludos Amigos. One of the bonus materials was a short 33 minute documentary for the Office of Inter-American Affairs titled South of the Border With
Disney. Which chronicled their adventures across the southern continent and
at around the 20 minute mark as the airplane is flying over the high Andes, and whenever people looked outside it was cut to a wartime censorship card and I recall the narrator mentioning that photos of the pass were top secret.
Walt Disney: “The flight across the Andes into Chile over the highest mountains in America. Plenty to see and remember on this spectacular trip. Since no cameras are allowed here the boys have to cover this from memory and sketches. Impressions of Uspallata Pass from 16,000 feet.”
This puzzled me as I live in a world now where everything is googlemapped. But in the 1940’s it made sense as planes could only fly low altitudes and this was the
only real pass to travel from Chile toArgentinaas later the Disney Studios
expanded on in their cartoon short: Pedro the little Chilean air mail plane. The point was the War Time Censorship office didn’t want to give away any possible visual information to an enemy power. Paranoia? Maybe, could the Axis powers already know the route? Probably. Then again better safe then sorry. So in 1942 this made sense. Fast forward to the 1950’s and this was included in Walt Disney’s TV program and that Censorhip card and wartime narration are now out-of-date and an annoyance. Has to be fixed. Answer: editing. Insert shots of the Andes replacing the Censorship cards and edit out the wartime references in the narration.
If you get a chance and are interested in Walt Disney’s
trip to South America, check out Walt
and El Grupo on DVD. It’s a bit nostaligic overall but it does a pretty good
job of capturing the feel of that era and what Walt and his friends experienced
on a good-will trip in war time. Also if you ever find a pre-DVD version
(laserdisc or vhs) of South of the Border With Disney rumor has it has
the original wartime censorship cards in it.
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