The racist name of a dog in The Dam Busters will not be censored in new screenings of the 1955 film, which has been restored to mark the 75th anniversary of the mission it depicts.
The classic British movie features a black Labrador called N****r, a mascot of the RAF 617 squadron, whose pilots dropped Barnes Wallis’s “bouncing bomb†on German dams during the Second World War.
The dog’s name led the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to toughen the film’s rating from U to PG last month ahead of screenings in 400 cinemas across the country.
The regulator said the stricter classification was intended to “send a clearer warning to parents that the film contains discriminatory language of a nature that will be offensive to manyâ€.
The name has previously been censored for TV broadcasts, while some American versions have used dubbing to edit the dog’s name to Trigger.
There are also plans to rename the labrador in Peter Jackson’s long-awaited remake.
But StudioCanal, the distributor of Michael Anderson’s 1955 original, confirmed it would play unedited at the anniversary screenings.
“While we acknowledge some of the language used in The Dam Busters reflects historical attitudes which audiences may find offensive, for reasons of historical accuracy we have opted to present the film as it was originally screened,†it said in a statement.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/dam-busters-dog-racist-name-n-word-censored-digger-screenings-guy-gibson-a8355561.htmlAnderson’s The Dam Busters has been given a high-definition 4K restoration ahead of its cinematic re-release this week. As part of the screenings, TV historian Dan Snow will explore the history of the RAF’s 1943 attacks on the Mohne, Eder, and Sorpe dams in Nazi Germany.
