On July 28th, The New York Post Page 6 news wrote about Ryko Distribution releasing the title Teenage Cruisers, under the Johnny Legend label. Johnny Legend has released titles like Barn of the Naked Dead, Suburbia Confidential and Office Love-In among other classic B-rated movies. Since the articles release, Warner Brothers, the parent company of Ryko Distribution stated they would investigate into what their subsidiaries are releasing and "take any appropriate action."

I first read this article through a thread at the AVManiacs forum which sparked my curiosity about the title and what Warner would do. 

In recent MMM discontinuation lists, I began noticing titles like Emmanuelle Around the World (XXX Version) and Thriller: A Cruel Picture in their lists, which surprised me to see them getting discontinued. So it seemed suspect that Ryko's library is starting to get the titles with hardcore content removed from their libraries due to this article that put Warner in the hot seat. 

I wrote to a few of the companies to get a confirmation of this and both Synapse and Severin responded:

Severin Films writes:

Ryko our distributor (who are owned by Warner Music Group) has just introduced a policy of not selling anything with XXX content, so four of our titles – ONCE UPON A GIRL, EMANUELLE AROUND THE WORLD XXX, MALABIMBA and BEAST IN SPACE XXX have been temporarily discontinued whilst we seek alternative forms of distribution for these titles. The rest of our catalog remains unaffected.

While Synapse Films writes:

The titles are NOT being discontinued. Our distributor has decided to not carry X-rated movies anymore, so we are looking for a new distributor. In the meantime, the titles can be purchased directly from us, either retail or wholesale.

 Cult Epics or Blue Underground did not respond. I did not contact Subversive Cinema. But Don May, Jr., President of Synapse Films, also concurs, from his posting at the AVManiacs forum that:

 Yes, this is due to the "Ryko" incident. For those who don't know, there was a mention of a porno that Ryko was distributing in the New York Post. Evidently, Ryko's parent company got a bit upset about the mention (something from Johnny Legend's company, I think) so Ryko decided to "pull" all adult x-rated content from Synapse, Blue Underground, Severin, etc. In our case (don't know about the other companies), the "out of print" moniker they put on these is BULLSHIT. The titles are NOT out of print... Ryko just isn't selling them anymore. Their loss, I guess. We will self-distribute these titles until we can find a new distributor for them. The soft core stuff (ie. anything without hard-core penetration) is still being handled by Ryko. You can still buy the x-rated stuff from our website and from many distributors like Xploited and DiabolikDVD in the meantime.

 So, as far as the titles being pulled from distribution by Ryko are as follows:

Cult Epics:

I don't know if Tinto Brass titles will be examined with the recent title Private which has scenes of fellatio, and other Brass titles certainly skirt the edges of hardcore.

Blue Underground:

 

Although nothing has been officially stated, I am wondering if Emmanuelle in America and Quiet Days in Clichy will follow the same path. I do not think the Tinto Brass title, Salon Kitty, has any hardcore scenes in it, very minor if it does.

 Severin Films:

At the present time, Beast in Space (XXX Version) is listed as out, but it is distributed by Ryko and released through Severin (although MMM states it from Private Screenings, which they might have sublet to them as there is no Severin badge on the spine).

Synapse Films:

The Impulse Pictures are handled by Synapse Films.  Thriller: A Cruel Picture is a limited edition of 20,000 units made.

Subversive Cinema:

Alice in Wonderland is a Limited Edition of about 10,000 units.

At present, all of the titles available for purchase on Amazon. In addition, you can purchase these directly from Synapse Films website and also Blue Underground's website (who is being handled by Alternative Cinema). Cult Epics, Severin and Subversive does not appear to sell directly on their website, so, how they will handle this will be determined as it happens.

What is disturbing about this is that, although Warner now declares a "no XXX policy", Amazon also does not sell "porn", although for years they have been selling it. A few sellers have told me in the past that Amazon has removed their listings because of this policy. Additionally, eBay also does not allow hardcore material to be sold in the public auction area and must be sold in the mature audiences section. This is another case of the eye in the sky not knowing what it is really selling. I have purchased and sold more hardcore material in the public area that in the mature audiences section.

It is unfortunate to see Ryko getting slapped, and even worse, these cool small independent DVD companies suffering because of it, as I personally enjoy the titles mentioned among their other releases. It would be sad to see such rare material get swept under the rub once again after so many years to finally see the light again. But, I would follow Don May's thinking that these are not be out of print, as they are available on his site and probably smaller sites that will handle them until they find another distributor. It is possible, on the other hand, that Amazon will not have them for sale for a period of time until another distributor comes along, unless they are handled directly from Synapse, Severin, etc. 

Here is a complete list of the companies that Ryko distributes:

http://www.rykodistribution.com/label.php?section=video