Product Details
ASIN : B00005AWR9
Editorial Reviews
From Amazon.co.uk
Author Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) wrote Lily Tomlin's narration for this superb documentary, based on a book by the late Vito Russo, about Hollywood's treatment of homosexual characters in this century. Never pointing a finger at anyone in the film community, The Celluloid Closet presents clips from more than 100 mainstream features (including The Children's Hour, Advise and Consent, The Boys in the Band, and The Hunger) that speak loudly in their respective images of gays and lesbians. The Celluloid Closet makes a persuasive case for patterns of sexual mythology in Hollywood, such as presenting homosexuals repeatedly as tragic, helpless figures redeemed only through death or as back-street monsters cavorting in the shadows. Things change, of course, and clips from more recent films by gay and lesbian filmmakers suggest a more vital, diverse, autobiographical approach. There are lots of great interviews with screenwriters (Gore Vidal), filmmakers (John Schlesinger), actors (Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg), and others to enunciate the major themes. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com essential video
Author Armistead Maupin (Tales of the City) wrote Lily Tomlin's narration for this superb documentary, based on a book by the late Vito Russo, about Hollywood's treatment of homosexual characters in the 20th century. Never pointing a finger at anyone in the film community, The Celluloid Closet presents clips from more than 100 mainstream features (including The Children's Hour, Advise and Consent, The Boys in the Band, and The Hunger) that speak loudly in their respective images of gays and lesbians. The film makes a persuasive case for patterns of sexual mythology in Hollywood, such as presenting homosexuals repeatedly as tragic, helpless figures redeemed only through death or as back-street monsters cavorting in the shadows. Things change, of course, and clips from more recent films by gay and lesbian filmmakers suggest a more vital, diverse, autobiographical approach. There are lots of great interviews with screenwriters (Gore Vidal), filmmakers (John Schlesinger), actors (Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg), and others to enunciate the major themes. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Captivating, Wonderful. (2008-02-12)  A truly lovely movie. A trip through cinema history with thoughtful narrative and considerations that span nearly all of the 20th century and Hollywood.
A MUST SEE (2004-07-02)  The Dvd extras alone are worth the $25.00 Made in 1995 just shortly after Tom Hanks won an Academy Award for Philadelphia (playing a gay man ). The hero of this production however is Lily Tomlin! This movie documentary was finaly made after the wirters & producers got in touch with her. Lily loved this project and got HBO to fund this movie! The basic theme in this movie is to show us how gay people have been portrade in the movies! Gay themes were Taboo! They were always taboo until the late 1960's. (However All movies were made to a strict code up to that point). So all gay themes (during the era of the Code) were between the lines! (This is the humor) After the code was lifted gays were shown mostly as the villians! ( This is the drama) This documentary was one of the best movies of that year!Is it dated? Not by much! It has been ALMOST 10 years since this was first released! Now we now have on TV "Will and Grace" (but after 7 years and no boyfriend give me a break). The big break in Hollywood was "The Birdcage". The next year was "My Best Friends Wedding" and "In and Out". (all money makers) Earlier that year "ellen" came out on TV but her show was cancelled a year later. In 2004 "The Stepford Wives" remake hade a gay couple. Although gays are more visable now than ever in the movies most of the time they are regulated to the "best friend" for comic relief! Not much of a change! Would I like a gay movie hero? Of course! I would also like to see hollywood remake movies that had they had gay stories to begin with! "The Lost Weekend" "Gentelman's Agreement" "The Childrens Hour" all had gay themes but were rewriiten for straight story lines or toned down! Yes "Fried Green Tomatoe's" is another but there was a kiss! After YOU VIEW "The Celluloid Closet" watch "Rebecca" "Rebel Without a Cause" and "Some Like it Hot"! You will be laughing!
A 1995 Documentary That is Still Relevant (2004-02-03) The Celluloid Closet has been out for nine years and I have only now seen it for the first time. You would think that gay themes and the presence of gay characters would be even greater now, in 2004, than when the documentary was made in 1995, and that it would seem dated. Unfortunately, it does not seem at all dated. The idea of a gay hero is still edgy and daring, and oddly enough, television, rather than the big screen, seems to be taking the lead in featuring gay characters and themes. The Celluloid Closet is an eye-opening look at how gays have been portrayed in American film. Film clips are interspersed with interviews and commentary by writers, producers, and actors who are gay or have played gay characters. It is interesting to see that people mocking gay men swished and minced the same way 100 years ago as they do today. A highlight is the deleted scene from Spartacus with Laurence Olivier as a slaveholder in his bath telling his uneasy slave played by Tony Curtis that he enjoys both snails and oysters. Strangely absent in the documentary are any mention of Clifton Webb or Cary Grant. I will be looking at old (and new) films in a different way now that I have seen The Celluloid Closet.
Excellent Documentary , but a bit too ideological (2004-01-18) Celluloid Closet is a well-done, thought-provoking documentary detailing the history of homosexuality in movies. The author(s)compile a fascinating list of films, many well-known and beloved, and describe how filmmakers, constrained by prevailing mores and production codes, were forced to deal with the subject creatively through innuendo and subtext. It works equally well as a history of film censorship. Only one drawback: the best documentaries are objective, letting the material tell the story, so why interview exclusively archetypal Hollywood liberal, pro-gay-rights activists? It would have been interesting, for example, to hear Charlton Heston's response to Gore Vidal's take on what "Ben Hur" is really about. Instead, we're left hanging by Vidal quoting the director: "Don't tell Chuck (Heston) what it's really about, or he'll die". (or words to that effect)
A great piece of gay/lesbian history (2003-07-13) From the beginning of motion picture history, gay men and women have played an important part in movie history. This wonderful film documents the roles of gay and lesbian characters in film, taking the viewer from the early days, when gay men were obvious characters in films. Gay men were always portrayed as the man wearing to much makeup, walking with a definite mincing gait, or playing the sissy. Then, came the Hayes Commission, designed to keep the movie industry up to some form of moral code. This didn't stop the appearance of gay and lesbian characters; it only hid them, such as the character of Mrs. Danvers in 1940s "Rebecca" by Alfred Hitchcock. It's never stated that she is a lesbian, but her obsession with the former mistress of the house, keeping her bedroom as it used to be, even her overall bearing -- all these let the moviegoer know who/what she is without disturbing the Hayes Commission policies. It's only recently that movies have portrayed openly gay and lesbian characters without fear of a gigantic backlash and in a positive light. "Jeffrey," "Kissing Jessica Stein," "The Boys in the Band" are just a few examples of this openness. When I first saw this film in the theater, I never knew how large the GLBT presence was in front of the camera. it made me go back and watch many films again, with a new understanding of the characters. With a wonderful narration by Lily Tomlin, this movie is a must-see for any chronicler of GLBT history, any cinophile or any movie buff.
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