The Celluloid Closet (Special Edition)
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Product Description
A hundred-year report of the role of gay men and lesbians in motion pictures, with excerpts from 120 singular films, and comments by contemporary ac
Litt Armistead Maupin (
Tales of the City) wrote Lily Tomlin's narrative for this superb documentary, based on a book by the overdue Vito Russo, about Hollywood's treatment of bent characters in the 20th century. Never pointing a finger at anyone in the videotape community,
The Celluloid Closet presents clips from more than 100 mainstream features (including
The Children's Hour,
Admonish and Consent,
The Boys in the Band, and
The Hunger) that utter loudly in their respective images of gays and lesbians. The mistiness makes a persuasive case for patterns of sex mythology in Hollywood, such as presenting homosexuals recurrently as tragic, helpless figures redeemed only through termination or as back-street monsters cavorting in the shadows. Things silver, of course, and clips from more recent films by gay and lesbian filmmakers call to mind a more vital, diverse, autobiographical approach. There are lots of lofty interviews with screenwriters (Gore Vidal), filmmakers (John Schlesinger), actors (Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg), and others to broadcast the major themes.
--Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Awesome Film
Bought this DVD on the recommendation of a friend to learn more about homosexuality in the media. This film was most helpful not only in learning about how the media portrayed homosexuality both positively and negatively, but how homosexuals would like the world to see them in the media. It was very helpful research and I would recommend it to anyone wishing to learn more about this sensitive topic.
2009-11-28
(Sandy Hook, CT, US) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5
excellent service
This video is excellent for everyone---it is a history of prejudice. It arrived way ahead of schedule and in perfect condition--thank you
2009-11-09
| Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5
I consider this a collectors item.
Very well done special, narrated by Lilly Tomlin. Eye opening look at how the gay issue has been handled in films & media, years ago, and now.
2009-05-31
(Arizona) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5
An Entertaining, Enlightening Documentary
The Celluloid Closet takes its name from a book by Vito Russo and tells us that in 100 years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been portrayed on screen except to create humor, pity, and/or fear. Besides examining the subtle gay subtext of films as far back as the late 1920s, it also discusses the censorship practices of the Hollywood Production Code.
Narrated by Lily Tomlin, the documentary features a whole array of filmmakers, film historians, and studio heads both straight and gay. Some familiar faces include Tony Curtis, Whoopi Goldberg, Harvey Fierstein, Tom Hanks, and Susan Sarandon.
The film covers Hollywood's depiction of homosexuality from the `20s to the early `90s. There's the "Sissy," Hollywood's first stock gay character and the subtle way filmmakers would imply homosexuality in cinema. Most know that Peter Lorre's character in The Maltese Falcon Three-Disc Special Edition (1941 & 1931 versions / Satan Met a Lady) was gay, but this film shows the subtle hinting (particularly, the musical score) and the obvious (the novel explaining he's "queer").
When Hollywood introduced the Production Code, scripts were frequently changed to remove "unsuitable" material. This didn't erase homosexuality from film, but made it even harder to find.
In one of my favorite parts of this doc, Gore Vidal (the screenwriter of Ben-Hur) talks about his discussion with director William Wyler about introducing a homosexual element into the film. By making Ben-Hur and Messala former lovers, there was a reason for their hatred of one another. Wyler agreed, but only told Steven Boyd, who played Messala, for fear of Charlton Heston's reaction. Vidal gleefully compares the performances of the two, one knowing his character is gay and the other unaware.
It wasn't until the 1960s that Hollywood became more willing to pull the subject from between the lines and shuffle it to the forefront. But, it wasn't until the 1970s (particularly with The Boys in the Band) that doors were opened for how homosexuals were portrayed onscreen. Of course the film also covers the `80s and `90s, but it's my goal to get you to see it rather than just explain it all to you.
One thing I found interesting was some of the films from the late `20s and early `30s, as the gay stereotype from that era greatly parallels the modern stereotype.
The documentary succeeds on several key levels. It is rather enlightening, although covering more obvious films like Rebel Without a Cause (Two-Disc Special Edition) and Cabaret. However, I wasn't aware of the elements in Ben-Hur and tracing elements of homosexuality to a Charlie Chaplin short were pretty enlightening. Also, letting us hear from both straight and gay filmmakers allows the doc to avoid much bias.
With films like Brokeback Mountain (Widescreen Edition) and Milk achieving acceptance in the mainstream, the subject of this documentary is not as profound as it may have been in even 1995. Despite this it is still an entertaining, funny, and enlightening history lesson on homosexuality and censorship in cinema.
GRADE: A
2009-04-27
| Josh (Coeur d'Alene,ID) | Helpful Votes: 1 | Rating: 5
Fabulous
I'm a sucker for documentaries, but I absolutely adore this film! The interviews bring so much life to it, and I want to go see all the movies they talked about now!
2009-03-04
(Connecticut, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5
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