The Cinematograph Films (Animals) Act 1937 is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

(1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6, c. 59). It defines a

criminal offence In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

of distributing or exhibiting a film that was "organised or directed in such a way as to involve the cruel infliction of pain or terror on any animal or the cruel goading of any animal to fury" - in other words, one in which actual cruelty to animals (as distinct from simulated, e.g. through the use of special effects or CGI) was photographed and/or occurred during the production. Offences under the Act are punishable by a fine and/or up to three months' imprisonment. Section 2 of the Act creates a valid

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

that the defendant "had reasonable cause to believe" that scenes of animal cruelty in a film were simulated, not actual. The definition of an animal under the Act is that of the

Protection of Animals Act 1911 The Protection of Animals Act 1911 (c. 27) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It received royal assent on 18 August 1911. The act consolidated several previous pieces of legislation, among others repealing the Cruelty to Animals ...

History

It is unclear why the Act was passed when it was, or if any single event prompted it to be put before Parliament. Concern had been expressed in the press during the early to mid-1930s at scenes in mainstream feature films that were suspected of showing actual animal cruelty, one prominent example being ''Island of Lost Souls'' (1932). According to the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of f ...

's website, the Act was a response to "widespread public concern about the mistreatment of animals on film sets, especially in

Westerns The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

Contemporary usage

The Act has never been

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

ed, and remains in force. The

(BBFC), in keeping with their policy of not sanctioning the release of any film if it believes that the release itself could constitute a criminal act, will occasionally refuse a certificate or require cuts to scenes it suspects involve actual animal cruelty. A notable case was the UK release of ''

Amores perros ''Amores perros'' is a 2000 Mexican psychological drama film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (in his feature directorial debut) and written by Guillermo Arriaga, based on a story by them both. ''Amores perros'' is the first installmen ...

'' in 2001, in which the BBFC accepted the producers' claim that controversial

dog fighting Dog fighting is a type of blood sport that turns game and fighting dogs against each other in a physical fight, generally to the death, for the purposes of gambling or entertainment to the spectators. In rural areas, fights are often staged in ...

scenes were simulated, not actual, and passed the film uncut.Review of the Film
in

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

, 4 May 2001, retrieved 26 May 2012 The phrase 'cruel infliction' is understood to mean cruelty to animals that was specifically and gratuitously inflicted with the sole purpose of creating an entertainment film. Therefore, for example, the screening of a documentary about bullfighting or an educational film about

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for Animal testi ...

in medical research would be unlikely to result in prosecution under the Act, because any footage of actual animal cruelty would be of an event that would have taken place regardless of whether or not it had been filmed, and the purpose of screening that footage is not entertainment. However, a film such as ''

Electrocuting an Elephant ''Electrocuting an Elephant'' (also known as ''Electrocution of an Elephant'') is a 1903 American, short, black-and-white, silent documentary film of the killing of the elephant Topsy by electrocution at a Coney Island amusement park. It was pro ...

'' would probably fall foul of the Act (had it been in force at the time), as the electrocution took place primarily as a public spectacle, and it was filmed purely for popular entertainment purposes.

References

External links

Full Text of the Act

article. {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1937 British Board of Film Classification Film censorship in the United Kingdom Film controversies in the United Kingdom 1937 in film Media legislation 1937 in British law Animal cruelty incidents Animal cruelty incidents in film Animal welfare and rights legislation in the United Kingdom History of mass media in the United Kingdom

History

Contemporary usage

References

Further reading

External links