What the film is then is a poetic, erotic homage to an important piece of furniture. Sex games grow in their kinkiness, until, eventually, people get sick and die on the bed. We see the bed roll down the mountain and innocent nude lovers appear, the tempter/Pan plays a saxophone and a snake slithers on the bed, a mother prepares the bed, other rituals are performed, a baby appears, a lizard comes out of a man’s mouth, and then a whole slew of varied and symbolic characters sleep in it, usually naked and often making love or participating in various pleasures and playing odd games. It is a surreal short that depicts life a it revolves around a bed. It has remained an underground, midnight movie favorite but not many people have had the chance to see it since these days it is only available on line and in DVD compilations of Broughton’s work.
James Broughton, a gay poet and artist made the short film “The Bed” in 1967 and it is regarded as “the first non-pornographic US film with full nudity”.
