Dark secrets behind movie so graphic it was instantly banned in most countries

In 1979, a film was released which star Helen Mirren described as 'an irresistible mix of art and genitals'.

In Italy, the film was confiscated by police as the government called it 'flagrantly obscene', while customs officials in the US seized the footage when it arrived, though they didn't declare the movie to be an obscenity.

The same thing happened when film reels of the movie were brought to the UK in 1980, with it being edited to remove the footage considered too obscene to show on screen.

Eight minutes of footage, including scenes of castration, disembowelling and rape were taken out of the movie, then another three minutes of film were cut in a process which took six months.

The film was thoroughly panned by critics and several different cuts were made with various levels of explicit content, in 1985 it became the first film with unsimulated sex scenes ever broadcast on French TV.

This movie got banned in so many countries, and it took months of editing before it could be shown anywhere in the UK. (Analysis Film Releasing Corporation)

This movie is Caligula, a historical drama about the life of a Roman emperor, who some historical sources (written a long time after his life by people who didn't like him) claimed demanded to be worshipped as a living god and tried to appoint his horse to political office.

After four years ruling the Roman Empire he was assassinated, receiving more cuts than his movie.

The film starred Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren and Peter O'Toole and was packed full of sex, nudity and graphic violence.

In one scene where Mirren's character gives birth, they used three pregnant women and a team of doctors dressed up as Romans and filmed actual childbirth.

Earlier this month Caligula: The Ultimate Cut released in select cinemas to somewhat better reviews than the critical panning it got when first released.

They had about 90 hours worth of footage to work with to create the film.

A historical epic starring Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren, produced by the creator of Penthouse magazine who edited his own hardcore sex scenes into the movie. (Analysis Film Releasing Corporation)

While the original screenplay for the movie was penned by Gore Vidal, he later asked for his name to be taken off the production after rewrites from others put in more sex and violence.

One of the movie's producers was Bob Guccione, founder of the adult magazine Penthouse, and some of the 'Penthouse Pets' were used in the film as extras during the sex scenes.

Among the women used for these roles was British model Jane Hargrave, who claimed Guccione showed women bestiality videos and got women appearing in Caligula to perform real sex acts on camera.

With his 'Penthouse Pets', Guccione filmed a number of hardcore sex scenes to be edited into the film, leading director Tinto Brass to disown the production.

With Caligula disowned by the man who wrote the initial screenplay and the director who filmed what he thought was the movie before Guccione added lots more scenes to it, the film was a box office bomb.