The Erotic Films Of Peter DeRome
Peter De Rome's film career started as a private affair. Picking up an 8mm camera in the mid-'60s, De Rome produced a set of painstakingly crafted, atmospheric sexual scenarios for the amusement of himself and his friends. After much urging, he entered one of the shorts, Hot Pants, to the 1971 Wet Dream Film Festival in Amsterdam. The film took first prize.
Hand and Hand Films producer Jack Deveau saw the films and convinced De Rome to collect several the shorts, blow them up to 16mm, and release them commercially as The Erotic Films Of Peter De Rome.
De Rome shot most of the films over a period of five years, in France, Spain, England, and the US. The edgy subway-sex study Underground was shot especially for the collection.
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A brief description of each segment follows.
Double Exposure (1969, Fire Island, New York) A man spies a naked figure standing in a window. He enters the home, and from the top of a staircase he watches as the naked man writhes in pleasure on a sofa below. When he descends the staircase, the man has vanished.
Hot Pants (1971, New York) A naked black man dances and gyrates to a jazz soundtrack, then masturbates to climax. Long, extreme close-ups of the man's bouncing genitals cause the viewer to see them in abstract rather than as part of the whole man, an effect that is both humorous and mesmerizing.
The Second Coming (1970, London, Paris, Malaga, and Marbella) A naked man bound Christ-like on a cross is presented in various states of arousal. His hands are restrained and he cannot touch his penis, which constitutes a "punishment" for his desire.
Daydreams from a Crosstown Bus (1972, New York) A handsome, mustached man riding a city bus catches a momentary glimpse of a young man on the sidewalk, and his imagination spins out a rich romantic relationship between them.
Prometheus (1972, New York) A melding of Greek myth and ruddy, naked manhood.
Underground (1972, New York) Two men have sex on an actual moving subway train. One of De Rome's most audacious projects, this short was a collaboration with Jack Deveau designed to push the envelope of acceptability and ratchet up the edginess of the collection as a whole.
Mumbo Jumbo (1972, London and New York) A sardonic little piece, and the most stylistic of the shorts in the collection. De Rome uses crass advertising techniques and jargon to objectify the naked male body.
Green Thoughts (1970-71, Kew Gardens, London) A celebration of lust in a wondrous garden setting.
These short films are by turns quirky, intense, wistful, and zany. The sexual action ranges from the mere suggestion of intimacy to hardcore fucking, but without exception the sex serves the greater themes. Technically, some of the shorts have aged better than others, but Bijou's restoration of the film for DVD release has significantly improved the overall picture quality.
The Erotic Films Of Peter De Rome is experiencing a renaissance in recent years. The collection has been screened at gay and lesbian film festivals in the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, and Italy.
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