For many years Debbie Does Dallas and The Devil in Miss Jones have been the top-selling titles for VCX, the Las Vegas-based classic porn specialists.
But on Dec. 11 these pillars of the 1970s Golden Age, will be shipped from VCX for the first time in two-disc “Definitive Collectors Editions.” Both have been remastered from original film sources, with 5.1 digital surround sound and a second disc of interviews and commentary.
“They are a step above anything we’ve done in the past,” VCX president Dave Sutton told AVN.com. “The colors just pop. The color is better than on the first VHS releases in the early days.”
Devil’s extras include a new interview with star Georgina Spelvin and a commentary track by director Gerard Damiano. Debbie features an interview with porn personality Robin Byrd, one of its stars, and commentary by adult film historian Phillip Charles Bernstene, better known to distributors as VCX sales manager Chuck Green.
The soft-cut cable versions of both movies are included, and each one has an original Spanish language track.
The project is a co-venture between VCX and New York-based Kitty Media, a mainstream company which last year stepped into the adult arena with Babylon Pink and Neon Nights, from Command Video, the first Cecil Howard movies on DVD. The VCX titles are the first in their newly named adult line, Raincoat Theater.
“Kitty Media did a fantastic job,” Sutton said. “They produced the commentary tracks, the interviews, and they hired the lab that did the telecine transfer process.” They also redesigned the covers, streamlining the graphics but retaining enough of the original look to keep them recognizable.
The two companies have a joint distribution deal, with VCX the exclusive seller to adult distributors and Kitty Media selling to mainstream outlets.
“We know all the [adult] distributors out there,” Sutton said, “and we were able to move substantial numbers of the Command Video films.”
The co-distribution deal was made at last year’s AVN Expo, where they also hatched the idea of the Debbie-Devil deluxe releases.
“No one else has ever done this before,” Kitty Media sales manager Gary Conner told AVN.com, in reference to the “Definitive Collectors Editions.”
His company’s game plan, he said, is to release adult classics in “Criterion-style” transfers and packaging, making them attractive to both adult and general buyers. Their model is The Criterion Collection, generally acknowledged as the gold standard for foreign and art-film DVD reissues.
According to Conner, the Command sets have had a “very good response” from mainstream retail. The next Raincoat Theater project, for release in 2007, is a two-disc package of the Marilyn Chambers classic Insatiable, transferred from original 35mm film materials, with audio commentary and a new interview from Chambers.
With Devil and Debbie Kitty Media had a wealth of core material to work with. VCX sent them all of their film negatives and positives, including Spanish language versions—25 reels in all.
“They went through all of them to make their transfers,” Sutton said. “If the quality of one reel was bad on the negative it would be good on the print [and vice versa].”
VCX has owned the movies ever since their release and, Sutton said, they “are our biggest commodities. Debbie alone accounts for 10% of our overall sales”—out of a catalog of 300 titles.
He pointed out that last year Devil was the second highest selling adult title, since it was included in Vivid’s bestselling three-disc remake package. Factoring in VCX’s sales of the single disc, he said, would put it, unofficially, in the No. 2 position, topped only by Pirates.
“It’s in the Top 25 of sales every year,” he added, “and it kind of goes unnoticed.”
Sutton’s uncle, industry icon Norm Arno, was the first to release features on VHS in 1977. A theatrical pioneer, he got into video, Sutton said, because he had an exclusive on TDK tape.
Dave’s father, Rudy Sutton, now 83, ran VCX for many years until he was sidelined by illness. “He’s in the hospital again,” Sutton said, “and I’m sorry to say that this time he’s not expected to pull through.”
But, he added, he will have the satisfaction of knowing that his company’s two key titles have been made available to the public in definitive form for all time. “He’s going out with a blast,” Dave Sutton said.
To order, contact VCX at 800.350.1931 or [email protected]. For Raincoat Theater, contact Gary Conner, 212.868.0991, x238.
