The Celluloid Closet

Rob Epstein, who made the Academy Award winning documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, also directed this semi-interesting foray into the subtext of American films since the beginning. His topic, of course, as you might deduce from the title, is homosexuality and the portrayal of homosexuals in film. He starts off with the weak, effiminate man who was always the brunt of the joke (though never very funny). Then there were the men who dressed in womens clothing (usually comedies) and the women who dressed in men's clothing (as Marlene Dietrich did in Morocco, and then kissed a woman to the delight of her nightclub audience). And then there are the looks and the gestures and the innuendos. Of course the production code strictly prohibited an mention of homosexuality or any sexually perverse actions in films, but many clever filmmakers were able to get their point across just the same, you just had to know what to be looking for. Actually, I was already familiar with the subtext of most of the films referred to, and the others I had never heard of. But Epstein uses films like: Some Like it Hot, Suddenly Last Summer, Ben-Hur, Red River, Spartacus, The Children's Hour, Rope, Rebecca and a bunch of others. I guess it was kind of interesting to see how the homosexual develops from the accident, to the victim, to the victimizer, and yet so rarely as a normal person. If you're interested in Hollywood subtext, then you will probably enjoy this documentary more than otherwise.