Sammy Going South (1963)

No Quote for this film.

The original cut of the film ran over three hours and was edited down to a more manageable 128 minutes before its premiere. Consequently, Marne Maitland's part of Hassan, the caretaker of the apartment block where Sammy lived and who was killed in the bombing raid along with Sammy's parents, was entirely cut from the film.
The British Board of Film Censors asked for certain scenes between Sammy and the Syrian peddler to be either cut or toned down. The producers were after a "U" certificate for the film and so had to comply. In the original full length version, the Syrian, who comes across Sammy laying on a sand dune in the middle of the Egyptian desert, is sexually attracted to Sammy and was shown lusting after him and trying to have his way with him. However, two small parts of the supposedly cut scenes did make it to the final release print. In one, the Syrian is kneeling before the standing Sammy and feeling the boy's right leg, while quite plainly and excitedly ogling the front of Sammy's khaki bush shorts, before grabbing hold of Sammy's right wrist and trying to drag the boy down onto the sand with him, while Sammy tries to wriggle free from his grasp. Originally released at 129 minutes (all but five seconds) the film, after its initial release in 1963, was, for some unknown reason, trimmed of ten minutes of footage and the original full length release version is now believed lost.
Patricia English was dubbed By Zena Walker.
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