Celluloid closet, The

Epstein and Friedman selected dozens of film fragments for this informative insight into homosexuality in mainstream Hollywood films. The examples offered are as bewildering as they are amusing. Starting with portrayals of the caricature “sissy” in the silent film (two men dancing in a Thomas Edison production) and “tough women” (lesbians) in the early sound film, we are taken to the 1950s, when gay characters on the whole were still firmly in the closet (William Wyler”s Ben Hur). We then move on to a more positive approach in the 1970s (Cabaret by Bob Fosse), to end with overt homosexuality in the cinema of the 1990s (Jonathan Demme”s Philadelphia).

The filmmakers alternated the fragments with interviews with writers, actors and directors, including celebrities like Gore Vidal, Susie Bright, Susan Sarandon and Tom Hanks; all of them offer an instructive and entertaining insight into Hollywood censorship and gay emancipation.