Phoenix Filmography

All five of the top tier English spanking magazines of the eighties either produced or distributed (or both) spanking videos.  I have already posted filmographies for Janus and Kane and I recently posted one for Blushes so now it’s time to add Phoenix to that group.  I’m working on a Roue Filmography but I still need to tie down the dating for a number of Roue movies.

Phoenix was founded in 1980 by a group of Janus writers, photographers and others who started their own magazine during the uncertainty that followed the death of Janus editor Alan Van Okker at the beginning of 1980.  Phoenix published 49 issues between 1980 and 1991.  The issues were originally published bi-monthly but they appeared less frequently toward the end.  Like Janus, Phoenix also operated a bookstore, called the Phoenix Bookshelf, in London.  The magazine was originally published by Amorbourne Ltd., which also published Roue, but starting with Phoenix 21 in 1984 it was self published under the name of the Phoenix Bookshelf (some sources say the change occurred with Phoenix 24 but I have copies of Phoenix 20 & 21 which show the different publishers).  There also seems to have been some relationship, perhaps informal, with Blushes which did not run a London storefront.  Blushes occasionally published advertisements for the Phoenix Bookshelf and Phoenix movies while Phoenix occasionally published advertisements for Blushes movies (a page from Phoenix 22 is shown below).

 

Phoenix started distributing spanking movies in 8 mm format.  The 5 eight-millimeter films that I know were distributed by Phoenix are listed in a table below; four of these were made in Germany.  Phoenix started distributing videotapes about 1982.  Its distribution services included advertising the videotapes in the magazine and selling them both through its London bookstore and by mail.  I can only confirm five Phoenix videotapes.  By confirm I mean that the release of the movie was announced in Phoenix, with or without an accompanying photostory.  These five are listed in the table below.  My only caution on this list is that I do not have access to a complete collection of Phoenix.  In fact, my collection is small but it does include eight issues from the period when videotapes were being released.  I am not certain if Phoenix actually produced movies but it is possible that they may have played some role in producing ‘The Cane and Mr. Abel’ (directed by George Harrison-Marks), ‘The Sweat Shop’ and ‘Spanking Interviews 1&2’. 

Phoenix stopped distributing movies after the Video Recordings Act 1984 received Royal Assent on July 12, 1984.  This Act prohibited publicly offering videos for sale or rent in the UK unless they had been rated by the British Board of Film Classification and the BBFC refused to rate any material that offended public decency.  It turned out that the Act didn’t actually come into force in the United Kingdom until September 1, 1988 but Phoenix and Blushes shut down their video operations in 1984.  Some other producers/distributors were able to circumvent the Act by creating foreign subsidiaries (SfP sold movies from an office in Holland) or by only selling to members of a ‘private club’. 

The table below lists the five 8 mm movies that were distributed by Phoenix.  I have never seen any of these movies; I know little about them and I am not certain if they still exist.

Name	Original Name
Carrot and Stick	Zuckerbrot und Peitsche
Punishment from a Thief	Diebische Bestrafung
The Whipped Slave
Her Bottom on Fire	Feuer im Weiberarsch
The Cane Party

 

The table below lists the five videotapes that I have confirmed were released by Phoenix along with the movie length, issue of the magazine that contains the announcement, the US release and any other information that I have.

Issue	Name	Time	CalStar Release	Comments
16	The Cane and Mr. Abel	25	Cane and Mr. Abel	Directed by GHM
18	St. Rules School for Young Ladies - Make Believe	29	Correction at St. Rules
19	The Sweat Shop	18
21	Spanking Interviews 1&2	59	Released separately and later combined as English Spanking Classics #26
24	Back to School	21	Back to School

 

As always, I will add more information as I find it.