Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: A look back at gay and lesbian tones across the history of films.
Biased, pithy comments: There is one repeated image in this documentary. It's from 1895 and shows a man playing a violin into a large drum of some sort while just off to the side, two men awkwardly shuffle in some sort of stiff waltz embrace. I don't know what it means, but it's the strangest thing in a movie filled with odd things. Perhaps the most surprising are the pre-code films that display sexuality openly---a half-dozen decades ahead of the free sexual expression that finally bursts the dam of bluenose conservatism in the 60s and 70s. The rest is a series of more and less insightful interviews with famous gay and straight players in the coded gay and lesbian cinema interspersed with carefully-chosen clips that emphasize the latent or overt homoerotic nature of films that dare not speak directly about men who love men and women who love women. It's quick, interesting, and witty, although by no means a definitive coverage of the subject matter; it trades breadth for brevity and clarity. Several times I cried out, ``There's gay in (film title)!?!?!'' as they showed clips and then interviewed the screenwriters, actors, and directors who clearly and intentfully buried their messages. I bow to their subtlety---it gave me a whole new way to see some of these scenes. (Sometimes they didn't; perhaps only Charlton Heston was unaware that he was playing a guy who had slept with his best male friend.) Definitely worth a viewing, but be prepared for them to spoiler a whole bunch of classic films.
Other Notes: A bit strident at times about AIDS and gay rights, but you must forgive them; it was the early 90s and such things were typical and necessary.
How many times I have seen it: x1
Starring: Many Hollywood types.
Directed by: Robert Epstein and Jeffery Friedman