Roller A-Z: Climax Films/Climax Original

Without doubt, Climax Films was Britain’s most prolific roller label and perhaps the most significant 8mm pornography brand in the European business. Started by Evan ‘Big Jeff’ Phillips and Bob Byrne in early 1966, possibly with some assistance from experienced roller maker Ivor Cook, Climax became the first British roller label to use branding, and this could indeed be the first instance of an 8mm porn label adopting a brand. Before this, rollers appeared in either generic packaging or in simple photo card boxes. Phillips’ simple decision to brand his prodcut transformed the roller market. Ivor Cook’s involvement is confirmed by Hebditch and Anning in Porn Gold and is referred to in The People newspapers first failed attempt to expose Climax’s operations in 1970. Given Cook’s reputation as a professional photographer and technician, it seems likely that Phillips, a businessman with no filmmaking experience, would employ Cook’s services to kickstart the label.

The label began as Climax Films, eventually changing names to Climax Original. It is plausible that this change was made to differentiate from the Theander brothers’ growing Color Climax magazine that emerged in 1968. Climax issued at least 200 titles. According to issue 20 of the Dutch magazine Chick , the label issued a total of 225: 175 in black and white, 50 in colour. Italian pornographer claimed to have convinced Phillips to shoot in color, impressing upon him to make better quality content. There appears to be three waves of Climax releases. The first wave is 1966-67, when the films usually had handwritten titles and were mainly produced by Phillips, Byrne and possibly Cook. These were typically printed on Ilford’s stock.1967-69 saw the second wave, when Phillips moved away from making the films, outsourcing production. Some were printed on Kodak stock. Rollers from this period appear to have been shot on 16mm colour film, but mainly printed on black and white; some of these titles were made available in colour. Several second wave films were made on the Continent, for instance No Mercy for Susan was shot in the Netherlands.

Climax became a transnational operation during their third wave – 1970-72 – when the business moved to Denmark, seeking to benefit from Denmark’s newly legalised porn laws. Now known as Climax Original, the label became collaboration between Phillips and infamous porn smuggler Walter Bartkowski, aka Charlie Brown. Films from this period had a higher production standard, mainly shot in Denmark and printed in Phillips’s then state of the art film laboratory; a far cry from the clandestine means originally used to print the first and second wave releases. Back then, Phillips often used North London film labs, paying willing employeesfor an ‘out-of-hours’ service. Phillips and Bartkowski smuggled the third wave releases into Britain, using small planes, Danish bacon lorries and dropping plastic wrapped stock into the North Sea for boats to collect. It’s incredible to think that the practices used today by drug gangs were being used by pornographers back in the 60s and 70s. Third-wave titles were usually printed on 3M stock, but other stock was used. Phillips used disinctive red ‘Climax Films of London’ branded reels during this period to signify original copies, suggesting that pirated copies circulated (more on this shortly).

Phillips evidently put a lot of thought into branding. Orange boxes are the dominant style, usually indicating first and second wave titles. Green boxes are indicative of colour releases, first appearing in 1967 and then increasing during the third wave when they had the means to formally print their own films. Climax experimented with shortened 100ft/30m films under the label Climax Mini. A purple box variant also exists with a $50 price printed on the front, signifying that these were likely intended for the American market. Many of the early first wave titles were exported to America. These titles appear to have been sold unboxed and have a lower print quality than the British releases, indicating that they were likely prints of smuggled-in prints.

The brand seems to have ceased in 1972, following the Sunday People’s exposé of Phillips, identifying him as ‘Britain’s First Blue Millionaire’. However, it reappeared, reissuing titles from other roller labels like International Films and New Private. These are identifiable through their slightly differently printed orange box and possibly the work of British porn distributor John Darby who once associated with Phillips but later feel out after the police arrested Darby. First wave titles reappeared on Amör Films, a possible off-shoot or a bootleg outfit.

Catalogue numbers in the table below are taken from a 1970 Climax mail-order brochure, and also from the leaders of some titles, hence why there is occasional repetition. I was unable to track down every Climax title, an impossible feat given that many of the first wave titles were issued in small numbers – no more than 50 – and don’t appear to have been reprinted. An example of this would be the elusive Tonight at 8 (1967). I am yet to confirm whether Climax released this iconic title, but the performers seem to also appear in Easy Meet, which is confirmed as Climax by a collector.

Climax Original

Colour box variant

Mini-Climax

Climax Original US releases

Bootlegs

The ‘waves of Climax’ label ident cards. Note the increasing professionalism, moving from handwritten cards to title generators