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Epicurus.com - Celluloid Closet
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List Price: $21.96
Our Price: $4.97
Your Save: $ 16.99 ( 77% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Lily Tomlin, Tony Curtis, Susie Bright, Arthur Laurents, Armistead Maupin
Directed By: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780800187248
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0800187245
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 1997-09-09
Running Time: 101
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1996-03-15
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Editorial Reviews:
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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
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: watch out...
Comment: documentary gets 4 stars, but DVD gets 3, because I naturally thought it would be widescreen...(it's not) :-(
Customer Rating:
Summary: first rate review
Comment: This affected me so much I thanked LT in person when I met her. Movie buffs, those coming out, fans of any interviewed would love it. LT is actually serious in this film which blew me away. Everyone's sincere.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A must see for all gay folk!
Comment: This DVD is essential for anybody to have in there gay movie library. There is so much to learn from the previous depiction of gays in cinema. Ive watched this movie several times and never get tired of seeing the love scene in BEN HUR. If nothing else watch it and take notes as to what movies you need to see to further educate your knowledge of gay history.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Gay Cinema
Comment: Julie M. Vognar wrote:
"the tender exchange between David and Jack in "Wings," (1927). The men were straight, the characters they played were straight, and the plot was straight--and David was dying! Yet, somehow, in those days before the Hayes Code, the tenderness between these two World War 1 flyers became--the hottest scene in the whole film"
Even though they were straight the chracters who obviously had plutonic love for one another shared a kiss and it was completely innocent. I don't think there was anything homoerotic or 'gay' about that kiss. If you were dying too and your BEST friend was right there, one of the only things you can do is to show a form of affection for that person as they part this world knowing they were loved in any manner wether gay, straight, whatever.
I think this film is very educational and well put together.
It's also sad that Television has had so much more success as far as gay characters go than mainstream cinema today.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ah, what if it had been made in 2007?
Comment: But then, people in 2015 would say, "Ah, if only it had been made this year!" (Would they have mentioned, in the waning days of 2007, the two outstanding TV shows, "Queer as Folk," which ran on Showtime for 5 years? "Angels in America," the magnificent production from HBO in 2003, which swept all the Emmys ("Did you know Streep played three parts?" "THREE?" "Yeah--she was the old rabbi, too..."); what would they have said about "Brokeback Mountain" (2005)? "Mysterious Skin" (2004) (it's director makes several brief appearances in the film, but before he really got down to work, as far as I'm concerned...
In spite of what got missed (I think "The Crying Game" and "The Wedding Banquet" are the latest films mentioned--and very briefly), this is a marvellous film. Most touching is the hunger expressed by gay commentators who for so many years longed to see thremselves presented, in any at least partially realistic way, on the screen. I was so glad that the film left Hollywood (one of its brief trips away) to give Britain's "Victim," (1961!) and its star, Dirk Bogarde, a lot of credit. "Parting Glances" got a good deal of play, too. How apologetic Crowley was for writing "The Boys in the Band," (1970--the film) with so much bitterness, self-rexcrimination and self-hatred in it. That's the way, he said, the world seemed to me, at the time. And yet, there were people who say "The Boys in the Band" who rejoyced that there were places in this favored land where gay men could get togather for a party, and dance.
It's a long story, full of humor, tragedy, and triumph, 1895-1995.
A scene that knocked my socks off (obviously--I posted six stills from it), was the tender exchange between David and Jack in "Wings," (1927). The men were straight, the characters they played were straight, and the plot was straight--and David was dying! Yet, somehow, in those days before the Hayes Code, the tenderness between these two World War 1 flyers became--the hottest scene in the whole film (the film makers--the makers of "The Celluloid Closet"-- seem to have thoght so too, because they etched it on the disc itself).
The film is a must for any film buff, gay, straight, or plaid (There's a 1947 joke about Jackie Robinson which ends "I don't care if he's plaid if he can't hit!)
Oh..there's one little problem. This DVD only costs 15 1/2 dollars--not bad! But if the subject matter interests you, you may, as I did, buy $200 or more worth of additional films, suggested by this one. "Tough knobs!" as my friend Richard Pollack used to say when I was 5. Enjoy...them all.
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