I finally got a reply to my objections to having my auction cancelled. Here's an expurgated version of their email:

..............................................................................
I have had a chance to review the listing that you posted and have
confirmed that it was correctly removed from the site.

Your listing contained the following description:

"Title of movie is [Noun & Noun - Noun]
(you be the judge of what the "story"
is about). Large-breasted Marilyn Monroe
look-alike (dark hair; maybe it's really her)
removes her clothing and rolls an apple
around on her body in the first few yards,
but I have not viewed the whole movie, so I
do not know how hard-core it might be."

This is an indication that the film may be pornographic in nature. In
order to sell this film you must state what kind of film it is and state
the rating [there is no rating; it's from the '40s or '50s]. If it happens to be pornographic you must list it in the
Mature Audiences section of the site.
..............................................................................

"If it happens to be pornographic..." I like that phrase! What about if it happens NOT to be pornographic? I don't have the equipment to watch this film, and I'm not going to run the whole thing over a lightbox, peering at every frame with a magnifying glass! And even if I had a projector, I'm not sure I'd want to watch this movie. Yeah, here's Grandma watching a stag movie in her kitchen. Sigh......

When it was listed in the regular movies category, I had an immediate four bids from four different people and several watchers and about 40 hits the first night. Listed in the MA category, it's gotten 19 hits in two days, no bids, no watchers. Searching on title & description, all categories, trying several of the words in the title, it does not show up in results no matter what I try. Do MA items ever show up in search results?? And of course, anyone just clicking to view my other auctions doesn't see it -- it's not on the list. EBay certainly doesn't make it easy for us downtrodden porn merchants.

Sue

P.S. One lesson learned is that for any auction you think might get cancelled, keep a record of your bidders. At least you can attempt to contact them to inform them of a relisting. I had done one AW update after the first bid was placed, so that was the only bidder I was able to contact.