STAG MOVIE NIGHT: VINTAGE PORNO FROM THE 1920S, 30S & 40S This collection of rare erotica films will surprise and shock those who believe the "sexual revolution" of the sixties and seventies gave birth to the celluloid depiction of sex. True, the seedy adult theaters of the seventies and the home video industry that followed it did not exist when these films were made behind closed doors. The original stag movies were distributed through a covert network of all-male screenings at lodges, bachelor parties, and fraternities. Seeing these forbidden films was nonetheless a fairly common rite of passage for American men back then, as the surviving reels of film testify.
The earliest extant pornographic film dates from 1915, and they were probably made well before then. The introduction of 16mm film in 1923 really opened the floodgates of stag production, and a standard format was established. Virtually all stag films are black and white, one 10 to 15 minute reel in length, and silent -- assuring compatibility with the relatively low-cost home movie projectors that were typically rented along with a night's worth of programming.
What shocks today's audiences about these films is that most (though not all) of them are completely explicit in their depiction of sexual acts. The variety of acts and couplings filmed long ago is another eye-opener, and it is somehow comforting to note that the camera angles for such action, worked out over half a century ago, survive in today's adult videos.
The silent films will be accompanied by recordings of period music, including early jazz, crooners, and dirty blues songs.
This new edition of Stag Movie Night will include both new, never shown material as well as the return of some favorite reels from the past screenings. The final selection is still being planned, but titles likely to be chosen include Hollywood Honeys, A Jazz Jag, Through the Keyhole, Mortimer the Salesman, and more, plus Buried Treasure, a hilarious pornographic cartoon from the 1920s attributed to the Max Fleischer studios and others.
There will be one complete show at 8:00 pm. Admission is $9.00. Beer and refreshments will be available at the screening.
Secret Cinema's first Stag Movie Night was presented at the old Silk City Lounge way back in 1996, and that venue also hosted several sequel volumes (with different content). Our last presentation of Stag Movie Night was almost 9 years ago (at a sold-out screening in the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival) -- so it is definitely overdue for a new showing.
