Warden's End

‘Warden’s End’ is available from Janus WorldWide at http://www.janusworldwide.com/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=170 (for some reason the drop down menu titled movies on the Janus WorldWide website says “There are no products in this category” but you can find the movies if you search through Google).  Photos from ‘Warden’s End’ appeared in  New Janus issue 6, the last issue of Janus published in 1981.

‘Warden’s End’ is a 9-minute long film made by George Harrison-Marks for Janus in 1981.  I’ve seen many reports that say ‘Warden’s End’ was GHM’s last movie for Janus but the reports are often qualified.  For example, the “About Janus” page on the Spanking for Pleasure website says “His last major film for Janus was ‘Warden’s End’ in 1981, which was shot in and around 40 Old Compton Street” which seems to suggest that there may have been some later ‘minor films’ (http://shop.spankingforpleasure.com/pages/about-janus).  However, there is no doubt that GHM would leave Janus soon after making ‘Warden’s End’ to found his own magazine called Kane.  (I will note that a photostory on GHM's movie 'Thoughts of Girlhood Chastisement' appeared in issue 7 of Janus, which was his last issue as editor, so it is possible that movie was made later.)

The film features British adult actress Linzi Drew (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linzi_Drew), who would make more films for Janus after GHM left, most notably ‘The Disciplinarian’ and she would also work for Harrison-Mark’s later film venture called Kane International.  The movie was filmed along Old Compton Street in the Soho district of the City of Westminster (London) and inside the Janus shop which was then located at 40 Old Compton Street.

The film opens with Drew, who plays a Traffic Warden (Meter Maid would have been the American term at the time) walking along the street checking cars.  A taxi pulls up in front of the Janus shop and an unidentified man starts carrying bundles of magazines into the shop.  The taxi driver leaves the car before Drew arrives and finds the taxi illegally parked outside the shop.  She starts to write a ticket when the man comes up of the shop for the next bundle of magazines and confronts her.

Eventually Drew asks about the shop and the two go inside where Drew starts looking at the magazines.  After she makes a dismissive comment about the photos the man asks her if she could do better and invites her to audition.  She agrees with very little discussion and has her remove her dress and bend over a stool for a hand spanking.  She finds it easy at first but the spanking becomes harder with time.  When she begins to object the man suggests continuing with eh cane and he does.  Finally, she decides this is too much and she abandons any thought of becoming a spanking actress and returns to her duties as a Traffic Warden.  The movie then ends with a typical GHM touch.

As a spanking movie, ‘Warden’s End’ is unremarkable but it’s a very well-made movie and its unusual story line makes it stand out from the many other spanking movies that recycle plots time after time after time.  It is also a ‘must see’ for anyone interested in the history of the genre.