Bijou Re-Releases Another Roger Earl Gay S/M Classic

CHICAGO—Bijou Video has re-released another Roger Earl classic gay adult film. Pictures from the Black Dance (1988) is the first of three titles Earl shot for Marathon Films’ “Dungeons of Europe” trilogy.

Earl took a huge risk shooting the film on location in one of London’s most notorious leather dungeons. At the time British laws governing sadomasochism were the most restrictive in Europe. As with his previous leather fetish film, 1974’s Born to Raise Hell, Earl assembled a talented cast of seasoned S/M players to provide an authentic depiction of gay leathermen in action. The cast includes Tony Star, Mike London, David Allen, Dick Johnson, Marl Adams, Kieran Stevens and Paul Stevens with special production assistance by Larry Townsend and Guy Baldwin.

Born to Raise Hell, which Bijou re-released in June, set the standard by which all subsequent gay S/M films have been judged. The S/M is authentic with whipping, pissing, beating, shaving, bondage, groveling and abused asses. Earl discovered and cast Val Martin in the lead opposite a bevy of very real, very masculine men including Quave Dalton, John Detour, Steve Richards, Eric Lansing, Tiger John, David Andrews, Paul Joseph and Craig Roberts.

Due to the hardcore, true-to-life nature of both films, neither was distributed widely in the home-video market. The buzz about both titles and the lack of access gave each an “underground” mystique and required “knowing the right person” to view or acquire either.

However, with Bijou’s re-release, the two classics are available to connoisseurs and collectors of S/M erotica. Each film has been restored and re-mastered for a new generation of fans to discover.

Bijou Video plans to re-release the other two films in the Dungeons of Europe trilogy, Like Moths to a Flame and Men With No Name, in 2010. Together, the four DVDs represent an extraordinary body of work by a living legend in gay cinema. Along with Terry LeGrand, Earl founded Marathon Films in the 1970s and created some of the most intense S/M hardcore films of all time. The pair went on to form the Gay Producers Association of America, which was the first organization to present awards recognizing work in the gay adult film industry.

In recognition of his contributions to an art form, Earl was awarded a GAYVN Award for Lifetime Achievement in San Francisco on March 28, 2009.                

For more information about Earl’s classic S/M films, visit BijouWorld.com.