China’s censors have ruled scenes from “Mission: Impossible III” that air Shanghai’s dirty laundry must be cut if the film is to be screened across the country, state media said Thursday.
Some of Tom Cruise’s latest Hollywood blockbuster was filmed in China’s eastern metropolis of Shanghai, considered the nation’s most modern city.
The censorship board, which often bans Western films that do not conform to its Communist Party guidelines, was unhappy that some scenes were “harmful” to Shanghai’s image, the Beijing News reported.
Among the “harmful” scenes that must be deleted is one showing laundry hanging from balconies, the report said.
Another showing bamboo poles all over rooftops and houses in narrow alleys, with underwear and other clothes hanging on them, must also be cut, according to the report.
Another scene ordered chopped was a car chase on the streets of Shanghai.
“The film administration’s fax indicated the film has passed examination, but it must be changed in several places,” an unnamed official from the China Film Import and Export Company, which is in charge of bringing the film into the country, was quoted as saying.
Whether “Mission: Impossible III” will be released here still depends on whether the film’s producers and director agree to edit the scenes, the report said.
