There'll be less Chow in the Chinese cut of At World's End

Well, it's been a while since we've witnessed the silliness that is the film censorship board in China. But they have struck again, bring a version of At World's End with less, among all things, scenes involving Chow Yun-fat, one of Chinese cinema's great modern actors.

According to local media, more than half of the scenes featuring Chow as a Singapore pirate, have been cut, including his recitation of a poem in Cantonese.

A spokesman for Disney said [audiences] would see a Chinese version of the movie and there had been cuts, without elaborating.

China Film initially said it had made no cuts, then declined to comment on a Beijing News report that it had cut scenes involving too much violence and horror.

The report said the cuts make [picture] difficult to follow.

"The sudden debut of the captain confused the audience at the Beijing screening," the report said.

It also cuts his reading of a poem by Tang dynasty poet Li Bai (701-762) called "Guan Shan Yue" (The Moon Shining Over the Mountain on the Border).

The previous installment in the franchise, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" was banned by the Film Bureau because of scenes of cannibalism and ghosts.

Remember the general rule in China is that the movie has to be suitable for all age groups in order to be allowed to screen. I'm on the fence when it comes to things like this. On one hand there is a part of me that finds joy in seeing a Hollywood film get bossed around. On the other hand I don't like cutting out things that effect the pace, feel and vision of the film. Tsk tsk.

[via]