Dungeon Furniture Watch

So, to run this blog, I’ve always got to be watching out for bondage imagery to feed the insatiable blogging machine. Today, I stumbled over what looks like an old “production still” (in scare quotes because these promo photos often don’t have much in common with scenes in the actual movie they are advertising) for a blaxploitation-ish looking movie called Black Socks. The still features blondes chained in a dungeon, that’s an instant blog post. But today, I thought I’d run through my “blog production” process for you and show you more steps than I usually do.

It starts when I find this image, doesn’t matter where. Today, as it happens, the source was a random image blog, one that I’m not going to link because (1) everything on there they borrowed from somewhere else without link credit and (2) they don’t have any outgoing links of any kind so (3) fuck ’em, they don’t play nice. Here’s the image as I found it, gray and grainy (click for full size):

black socks movie promo dungeon picture

This image I would normally not show you in its original form. Uncropped, it’s too small (at the 320 pixel size I like to use) and gray. Sure, I can link the original pic as I found it, the way I’m doing today, but my server stats say I’m wasting my time; most folks never click.

Nope, what I normally do is crop and clean and brighten and sharpen the best bondage detail, thusly:

blonde wenches chained in bondage dungeon

There you go, blonde wenches in chains, that’s what you came for, my work here is done.

Sadly, I’m not a photoshop wizard; difficult originals like this one, there’s a limit to what I can do, and a limit on how much time I’m going to spend. What you see is what you get.

Today, however, the process became — more involved. I was halfway through the standard quick process when a previously unnoticed detail caught my eye. Hey, what’s that down in the dark corner I’m about to crop away?

what is this

What it appears to be is an absolutely marvelous stocks/pillory item, with holes for head, hands, and legs, perhaps not all to be used at the same time. To me it looks like it came straight out of some sort of trendy 1960s Scandanavian home furnishings design contest:

well designed dungeon movie prop

Check it out, it’s sculpted, it’s modular, it’s stackable, it’s unstackable, the holes are shaped to fit smoothly around captive limbs, and it’s doubtless made of Norwegian wood or a “high quality” wood-grained plastic imitation. Somebody put a lot of creativity and contemporary design sensibility into their dungeon props for this movie; either that, or they just borrowed what was in the director’s personal playroom. Either way, I want one!

7 comments on “Dungeon Furniture Watch”:

theaustrian commented on September 17th, 2008 at 11:24 pm:

Actually, Kink.com had the very same idea (Well, of course, some time later).

To be found here ( Photos )

and here ( Video )

I have to admit I haven’t seen the old one in use, but this one seems to be still better.

Rope Guy commented on September 17th, 2008 at 11:32 pm:

Well, much as I like the kink.com bondage wall, it strikes me as basic carpentry; what struck me about the movie prop is that it looks more like the fancy designer furniture of its era, sort of like, for example, the props in The Clockwork Orange.

Function-wise, you may very well be right.

donjohnson commented on July 22nd, 2016 at 7:43 pm:

Odd…IMDB doesn’t have anything and googling for Cineprobe comes up empty.

T commented on May 3rd, 2019 at 4:35 am:

Weirdly, these stocks have been featured on G-Rated television quite a bit. They turn up quite often in the Addams Family “playroom” and also on the Brady Bunch’s Thanksgiving episode. (Not that there’s really any clips worth posting from either)

Rope Guy commented on May 3rd, 2019 at 10:06 am:

Fascinating! They are — or were — kept handy in somebody’s prop room…

T commented on May 5th, 2019 at 1:02 am:

After poking around a bit, I found this. (Video Vixens (1975))

https://youtu.be/mYlXlF6sS8Q

The dungeon scene appears toward the end of the trailer.

T commented on September 23rd, 2019 at 4:12 am:

While I’m at it… this device also appears in the background of Poor Cecily (if you look closely).

http://ralphus.net/thegimpforum/public/img-1569157523.jpg

And, I’m pretty sure it reappears in the haunted house in KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (1978).

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