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For nearly the entire history of film and movie production, certain films have been either boycotted by political and religious groups or literally banned by a regime for political or moral reasons. Paradoxically, banning a movie often completely fails to achieve its intention of preventing a movie from being seen- the publicity given worldwide to banned movies often results in it being given attention it might not otherwise receive.
With the advent of the internet, the ability of groups or governments to ban a film is hindered. High-speed internet and better file compression give more people access to digital copies of movies that might not be available for viewing in theaters. Obvious problems with using the internet as a distribution system include the inability for a producer to profit from his or her film. Recently, Michael Moore stirred up controversy by encouraging people who were curious about but didn't want to financially support his film, Fahrenheit 9/11, to download it and watch it on their computers.
Many governments have commissions to censor and/or rate productions for film and telivision exhibition. For example, the United States has MPAA Ratings to protect children from questionable content. From 1930 to 1968, all films produced in the United States were subject to the Motion Picture Production Code. From a government standpoint, the censoring of films is more effective than banning, because it limits the scope of potentially dangerous or subversive cinema without overtly limiting freedom of speech.
Possibly the country with the most banned films. The Queensland Film Office, for example, has banned atleast 174 films since 1974. Australia's OFLC (Office of Film and Literature Classification, now also responsible for the banning of computer games) can be blamed for much of the censorship, however each state and territory is free to make additional legislation. See also Censorship In Australia.
1907 Victorian Chief Secretary bans screenings of The Kelly Gang in Benalla and Wangarratta.
1911 exhibition of The Kelly Gang film banned in Adelaide.
1912 NSW police department banned the production of bushranger films.
1928 to 1941: Chief Censor Creswell O'Reilly and his board ban many movies in this period, including Dawn, Klondike Annie (starring Mae West), Applause (it contained chourus girls), Compulsory Hands, Cape Forlorn, The Ladies Man (sexual overtones), White Cargo (interracial theme), The Five Year Plan (discussed communism), All Quiet on the Western Front, Gang Bullets, Each Dawn I Die, Hell's Kitchen (three US ganster films), The King and the Chorus Girl, The Brith of a Baby ("not in the public interest"), Green Pastures, Susan and God (blasphemy), Reefer Madness and Of Mice and Men (sex and violence in combination).
1942 - The Monster and the Girl, The Man with two Lives, The Invisible Ghost, and King Kong, Frankenstein, Dracula plus their respective sequels.
1964 to 1970: Mr. R. J. Prowse is appointed Chief Censor and Campbell goes into the Appeals Board. During the liberal 1960's many more films were being banned including The Miracle, Viridiana, La Dolce Vita, Satyricon, The Silence, Blow Up and Zabriskie Point.
1971: Customs Minister Don Chip begins the development of a new classification system, which includes the much-needed R rating for adult content. Movies that were once banned are gradually released. The X rating is later introduced to cope with the upsurge in hardcore pornographic films.
1976 Pasolini's Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma banned in Australia
1984 (?): A governmental conference is held, resulting in the later abolition of X rated material in most Australian states. Ownership of hardcore porn remains legal.
1990: Gail Malone and the Queensland Film Board of Review, which had banned 174 films since 1974 (including Dawn of the Dead, Near Dark, Prison, Day of the Dead, The Toxic Avenger, Re-Animator and the M rated A Nightmare on Elm Street III) are abolished when the new Labour State Premier Wayne Goss is outraged that the Board banned an already censored version of Bad Taste after a three-week run in cinemas.
1992 The previously banned 1981 Chinese gore film Dr. Lamb is released with 11 minutes cut; it's poster is banned.
1993 Australian ban on Pasolini's Salò lifted
1995 Twelve queer films banned from Tasmania's Queer film festival, including Spikes and Heels (about the Gay Games in New York, broadcast on French, Swiss, Belgian and US TV), and Coming Out Under Fire (about the discrimination faced by US lesbian and gay personnel during World War II, which SBS has just bought to screen on SBS TV). Other titles include What a Lesbian Looks Like, Mad About the Boy, 21st Century Nuns and Sex Fish.
1996 Pasolini's Salò again banned in Australia
2000 Romance banned Nationally.
2002 Baise Moi (french for "Rape Me") banned in Australia
2003 Ken Park film banned in NSW
Other films reportadly banned in Australia, but its unclear when:
American Psycho, Final Exit, Cannibal Holocaust, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
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