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ESSAY ONE: INTRODUCTION

This essay, “75 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967),“ examines queer film under the notorious Hays Code, spanning the years from 1934 to 1967. A second Essay, entitled “75 Queer Films from the New Hollywood (1968-1980),“ covers Queer Cinema from the arrival of the MPAA rating system in 1968 to the end of the New Hollywood in 1980.  A supplementary Table accompanies both of them.

These essays are not meant to be an in-depth chronicle of Queer Cinema.  However, they are the most comprehensive listing of Queer cinema undertaken in the blogosphere to date. They reflect the big screen portrayal of the LGBTQ+ community as seen by me, a gay man who, although a medical doctor by profession, fell in love with movies at an early age.  A gay man who grew up and went to college and medical school in Ireland and, by chance, got the opportunity to review movies in the mid-nineteen-eighties, first for ‘Å“In Dublin’ and then for ‘Å“The Irish Times.’ I have lived in Los Angeles since the mid-nineteen-nineties.

What is Queer Cinema?  It can have different meanings for different people.  If there is a gay character that is a character and not a prop for straight people to laugh at, then, in my opinion, it’’s Queer Cinema.  It’’s also a sensibility.  A sensibility that would bring movies like ‘Å“The Bride of Frankenstein,’ ‘Å“The Women,’ and ‘Å“Auntie Mame’ under the queer umbrella, even if they didn’’t have gay supporting characters.  The fact that gay men directed all these movies completes the picture!

In this essay, I have attached an asterisk to the name of the gay character while the actor’’s name playing him or her is in parentheses. If an actor in the movie or someone behind the camera is/was gay, or if the film is based on an original idea, novel, or play by a gay writer, that person is also noted.

1934: THE HAYS CODE

The notorious Hays Code, which, although formulated in the early twenties, was only enforced in earnest with the arrival of Joseph Breen at the Hays Office in 1934. Under Breen, overt references to sexuality, particularly homosexuality, were frowned upon. As a result, gay or straight directors, writers, and actors had to be more creative in presenting while, at the same time, disguising a gay character. This dichotomy, however, led to thirty-three years of movie classics in which Queer characters were not only present in memorable supporting roles but were also featured in leading roles.

It says something about the ingenuity of Hollywood during this period that only three Queer Films (4% of the total), all three of them foreign, ran into problems with the Hays Office. The only Queer Film to be denied a seal of approval remains the “Basil Dearden/Dirk Bogarde’s film “Victim” from Britain in 1961. Unfazed, Rank Films pressed ahead with a US release, where, thanks to some good reviews from critics, it generated moderate box office. When “Victim” was released on VHS in the US in 1986, it received a PG-13 rating by the MPAA. The other two, ‘Å“Kind Hearts and Coronets’ (England, 1949) and ‘Å“Persona’ (Sweden, 1966), required cutting before they were released in the US. These scenes have since been restored.

In 1959, Billy Wilder decided not to submit his outrageous genre-bending comedy ‘Å“Some Like It Hot. Released with a big “fuck you” to the Hays Office, the Marilyn Monroe classic was an instant smash and many regard Wilder’’s decision not to submit the Marilyn Monroe classic as the Code’s death knell. However, it is worth noting that the first major studio movie to bypass Joseph Breen was Otto Preminger’s “The Moon is Blue” in 1953.

QUEER-THEMED FILMS

AT THE HAYS-MPAA TRANSITION.

As the 1960s progressed, queer cinema played a crucial role in undermining the Code.

The release of two queer films with overt homosexual themes – Sidney J. Furie’s “The Leather Boys” in 1964 and John Huston’s “Reflections in a Golden Eye” in 1967 – without any cuts, signaled to everyone in the industry that the Hays Office was now a crippled animal waiting to be put out of its misery.

In early 1966, the Filmmaker’s Cinematheque and later the Hudson Theatre in New York began showing the Andy Warhol-produced, Chuck Wein-directed film “My Hustler.” With screenings first advertised in The Village Voice and eventually spreading through word of mouth, the movie became an underground sensation, running continuously, despite occasional police raids, at both theaters for over two years. Public demand was high, and Regional runs were arranged between 1966 and 1969 in Los Angeles, Chicago, Tucson, San Bernardino, Albuquerque, Akron and Indianapolis. To this day, it remains the only Factory film to turn a profit and is the only Factory film to be available on digital media.

A few months later, financiers Shirley Clarke and Graeme Ferguson, together with Film-Makers Distribution, decided to release Clarke’s documentary “Portrait of Jason” independently, bypassing the Code entirely by concentrating on film festivals, college campuses and independent cinemas. The plan worked. Although it had its detractors, the film was quickly recognized as a groundbreaking exercise in cinema verité.

Likewise, when producer Raymond Stross (who also produced “The Leather Boys”) and his wife, actress Anne Heywood, wanted to marker their small, Canadian movie with an explicit lesbian theme called “The Fox,” based on D.H. Lawrence’s novel, they and their distributer Claridge Pictures in conjunction with Warner Bros.-Seven Arts decided to take the same route, bypassing the Hays Office; the film was released independently, without a Code seal. Playing at Film Festivals, Art Houses, and College Campuses, it found an audience, and Lalo Schifrin’s Oscar-nominated score gave it a second wind in the Spring of 1969 – the movie was not shown in LA until 1968. It was subsequently submitted to the newly appointed MPAA, receiving an R rating.

TABLE I Fourteen Queer”‘Themed Films at the Hays → MPAA Transition

The Leatherboys British Lion-Columbia Produced by Raymond Stross 1964 Hays Code Era Submitted and approved without cuts Released with a Code seal. Only one of two overtly queer-themed films to be screened in the US before the Code’s collapse in 1968.  An early queer cinema landmark and a sign of the Production Code’s waning power in the mid-1960s

My Hustler Andy Warhol’s The Factory 1965 Hays Code Era Not submitted, bypassed Code Released independently with no seal of approval  Screened at the Filmmaker’s Cinematheque and The Hudson Theatre in New York City and in various arthouse cinemas across the country.

The Fox Claridge Pictures, in conjunction with Warner-Seven Arts  Produced by Raymond Stross 1967 Hays Code Era Not submitted, bypassed Code Released independently with no seal of approval   Explicit lesbian relationship. Independent release under the Code. Marketed “Adults Only.”   Later retro-rated R under the MPAA

Reflections in a Golden Eye  Warner Bros.-Seven Arts 1967 Hays Code Era Submitted and approved without cuts Released with a Code seal. Only one of two overtly queer-themed films to be screened in the US before the Code’s collapse in 1968. An early queer cinema landmark and a sign of the Production Code’s collapse towards the end of 1967.

Portrait of Jason Film-Markers Distribution  1967 Hays Code Era Not submitted, bypassed Code Released independently with no seal of approval  Shirley Clarke’s avant-garde documentary of Jason Holliday. independent release, no Code seal

The Detective   TCF 1968 MPAA Era M (Mature audiences) Frank Sinatra’s crime drama openly depicts homosexuality, which was impossible under the Code.

The Sergeant Warner Bros.- Seven Arts 1968 MPAA Era M (Mature audiences) Rod Steiger as a closeted officer, one of the first studio films to address homosexuality

The Killing of Sister George Cinerama Releasing Corporation 1968 MPAA Era X (17 and under not admitted) Explicit lesbian relationship; one of the first films to receive an X rating

No Way to Treat a Lady Paramount   1968 MPAA Era M (Mature audiences) Dark comedy/thriller; released with an MPAA rating.

The Boston Strangler TCF 1968 MPAA Era R (Restricted) Under-17s are only admitted with a parent or guardian in attendance.  Violence and overt references to homosexuality in the Boston demimonde. It would have been impossible under the Hays Code.

Rachel Rachel Warner Bros-Seven Arts 1968 MPAA Era M (Mature audiences) Themes of repression and sexuality – including homosexuality, carried an MPAA rating

2001: A Space Odyssey MGM 1968 MPAA Era G (later PG) Major studio release; carried an MPAA rating

Midnight Cowboy United Artists 1969 MPAA Era X (later R) Male Hustler’s relationship. Won Best Picture; a landmark in the MPAA era

The Damned Warner Bros.-Seven Arts 1969 MPAA Era X (later R) Themes of violence, incest, overt homosexuality, and Helmut Berger in drag managed to get Visconti’s film, like “Midnight Cowboy,” “Last Summer,” and “The Killing of Sister George,” an X-rating from the MPAA. Later, it was released as an R, after 12 minutes of offending footage were removed, leaving the eviscerated version that most of us saw for decades. Visconti’s complete 154-minute vision is now the standard for screenings, DVD/Blu-ray editions and streaming presentations.

A 2025 Translation M no longer exists.  Today’s equivalent is PG or PG-13. Parental guidance suggested. PG-13 is a stronger warning to parents than PG Signifies material that may be inappropriate for children under 13, whereas PG is only for “Parental Guidance Suggested” for material potentially unsuitable for younger children.  PG-13 films can contain more intense violence, language, and mature themes, but do not reach the level of an R-rated movie. R remains the same; Under 17 accompanied by a parent or guardian. X (17 or under, not admitted) has now been replaced by the more respectable-sounding NC-17. Today’s X signifies ADULT CONTENT or what might have been called pornography back in 1967-68-69 during the Hays → MPAA Transition.

LGBTQ+ IN HOLLYWOOD

As the years have passed and numerous biographies and memoirs have been written, more and more celebrities are now known to have been gay. So-called Lavender Marriages abounded, particularly at MGM, where the studio’s contract players had an iron-clad social clause in their contracts.

• Fred Astaire was possibly in a long-term relationship with choreographer and doppelganger, Hermes Pan. However, unlike, say, Spencer Tracy, whose history of sex with men comes from numerous sources, there is not enough evidence to come down definitively on Fred Astaire as being gay.

The other LGBTQ+ Hollywood personalities mentioned in these essays are known to have had same-sex trysts and relationships going back decades.

• Jean Arthur

• Tallulah Bankhead'”her longtime lover, actress Patsy Kelly, best known as the wisecracking sidekick to Thelma Todd in a series of short comedy films produced by Hal Roach in the 1930s and a small but memorable part in “Rosemary’’s Baby” posed as her personal assistant when they were on the road together. In addition to being linked with both Dietrich and Garbo, Bankhead was rumored to have had romantic liaisons with actresses Hattie McDaniel, Alla Nazimova, Blythe Daly, and Eva Le Gallienne, as well as writer Mercedes de Acosta and singer Billie Holiday.

• Marlene Dietrich

• Greta Garbo

• Barbara Stanwyck was in a lavender marriage with Robert Taylor. The marriage was arranged by Taylor’s studio, MGM, to squash rumors of Taylor’s homosexuality. Stanwyck’s most enduring relationship was with her publicist and live-in companion Helen Ferguson, who was described as her “Girl Friday.”

• Sandy Dennis

• Kay Ballard

• Marjorie Main was in a long-term relationship with Spring Byington.

• Christopher Walkin

• Nick Adams

• Earl Holliman

• Paul Winfield was one of the first Black actors to come out publicly. However, during the making of Sounder in the early 1970s, he lived with his co-star, Cicely Tyson, for 18 months, so people would think they were a straight couple. They never publicly corrected the misconception. His partner of 30 years, the architect Charles Gillan Jr., predeceased him by two years.

• THE METHOD triumvirate of Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and James Dean.

• Alan Ladd

• Walter Pidgeon

• Cary Grant had a long-term relationship with actor Randolph Scott and costume designer Orry-Kelly.

• Laurence Olivier had a long-term relationship with Danny Kaye

• Anthony Perkins had a relationship with fellow actor Tab Hunter in the late 1950s. They double-dated some of Hollywood’’s most beautiful actresses during this period.

• Husband and wife Vincent Price and Coral Browne.

• Alan Bates and Peter Wyngarde were romantically linked in the early sixties.

• Director George Cukor, probably the most famous gay man in Hollywood during this period, played a pivotal role in fostering the lavender marriage of Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Hepburn and Tracy cared deeply for one another, but their relationship was a scam set up by their studio, MGM, to squash rumors of their homosexuality. The couple lived in a cottage on the Cukor estate during their time in Hollywood.

• Dirk Bogarde gradually evolved to a more OUT persona as his career developed, although he never officially broached the subject.

• Alec Guinness, Dennis Price, Charles Laughton, John Gielgud and Laurence Harvey were all known to be gay throughout their careers. Their adoring public may have sensed something. Still, hey, they were English (by way of Lithuania and South Africa in Harvey’’s case), so like Olivier, a bit of affectation came with the territory.

• Rock Hudson is the classic Hollywood closet case. Everyone in town knew the story – including the sham marriage – but the public was clueless until a diagnosis of advanced AIDS forced his hand in coming out, with only a few more weeks to live, in the summer of 1985. His case, though, was a milestone in exposing the double standards at work in Hollywood and is in no small way responsible for the strides that gay actors have made in the film world today.

• BEHIND THE CAMERA were the gay directors James Whale, George Cukor, and Vincente Minnelli, who showcased their gay sensibilities to varying degrees and whose careers took divergent paths.

• Minnelli, who was married to gay icon Judy Garland, managed to have a stellar Hollywood career with little to no interference from his studio (MGM). The fact that he was known primarily as a director of musicals and directed what may be the greatest one of all – Meet Me in St. Louis – helped his cause. Whale and Cukor, however, suffered for their sexual preference.

• Cukor was fired from ‘Å“Gone with the Wind’ after a few weeks of filming. We will never know the real reason, but no matter how many times Olivia de Havilland vehemently denied it, the rumors about William Haines and Clark Gable, and Cukor’’s knowledge of what happened between them, still carry an air of truth today.

• As for Whale, being the most OUT of the great Hollywood directors and being in a well-known relationship with Warner Bros. producer David Lewis didn’’t help, especially when tastes changed, and his penchant for high camp lost favor with the public as the thirties progressed.

• The 1950s and 1960s gave us gay directors such as Nicholas Ray, Tony Richardson, Andy Warhol, Chuck Wein, John Schlesinger and Lindsay Anderson. Ray directed one of the seminal 1950s (and Los Angeles) movies, Rebel Without a Cause, which featured Sal Mineo’’s Plato as Hollywood’’s first adolescent gay character.

• Meanwhile, Broadway theatre director Morton DaCosta showered his meager (three) Hollywood films with a very gay theatrical style, so much so that his feature debut, Auntie Mame, is regarded by many as a camp classic.

• Gay Hollywood power couples existed then, as they do now. Roger Edens and his partner of many years, Leonard Gershe, made the deliciously urbane and witty Audrey Hepburn-Fred Astaire vehicle, Funny Face.

• During the Hays Code years, there were two branches of filmmaking where being gay, if not an advantage, was undoubtedly the norm, and a third branch, where, well, it’s difficult to know:

• COSTUME DESIGN: It may surprise you that the allure of the Costume Department to the gay sensibility applies to both sexes. Edith Head and Irene Sharaff, Hollywood’’s most outstanding female costume designers, were gay. As for the men, well, you can just run through the list: Gilbert Adrian, Milo Anderson, Travis Banton, Bill Blass, Howard Greer, Charles Le Maire, Jean Louis, Moss Mabry, Anthony Mendleson (in London), Bernard Newman, Orry-Kelly, Walter Plunkett, Howard Shoup, Bill Thomas, William Travilla, Arlington Valles and many, many more. Some were in lavender marriages, but all expressed their gayness in their on-screen work.

• CHOREOGRAPHY: While Fred Astaire and his longtime companion Hermes Pan choreographed the unforgettable dance sequences in ‘Å“Top Hat’ (1935), Fred’’s career was bookended by the stunning work of another gay choreographer, Eugene Loring, in ‘Å“Funny Face’ (1957). Meanwhile, gay choreographer Jack Cole’’s contribution to the musical numbers ‘Å“Put The Blame on Mame‘ and ‘Å“Amado Mio’ from ‘Å“Gilda’ and ‘Å“Diamonds are a Girl’’s Best Friend’ from ‘Å“Gentlemen Prefer Blonds’ is the essential ingredient in making these movies immortal.

• PRODUCTION DESIGN ‘” ART & SET DIRECTION. Gay historians have often found it easier to trace the sexual histories of Hollywood’’s more glamorous professions ‘” actors, writers, costume designers, composers, songwriters, and choreographers. By contrast, the behind”the”scenes world of production design, art direction, and set decoration, though long infused with queer sensibility, has remained more elusive. Many of its practitioners led discreet, private lives, leaving little documentation of their sexuality.

• There are notable exceptions. In 1965, three legendary art directors ‘” Cecil Beaton, George James Hopkins, and Gene Allen ‘” shared the Academy Award for their work on My Fair Lady (1964). All three were openly gay men -Allen towards the end of his life.

• Hopkins, who was in an intimate relationship with director William Desmond Taylor and was in the deceased’s apartment on Alverado Street on the morning after Taylor’s unsolved 1922 murder, had a long career at Warner Brothers (1941-1967), where he was nominated for 13 Oscars and won 4. Here, he is mentioned for films such as Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, A Streetcar Named Desire, Strangers on a Train, Auntie Mame, and the aforementioned My Fair Lady.

• Legendary British stage designer and Princess Margaret’s confidante, Oliver Messel (he designed her Caribbean island getaway in Mustique), was Oscar-nominated for one of his few forays into Film, Suddenly Last Summer. He was also responsible for the film’s costume designs, having done so on a handful of previous films, such as Romeo and Juliet (1936) and The Thief of Bagdad (1940).

• Likewise, it is widely acknowledged that Cedric Gibbons, despite three lavender marriages (including one to actress Dolores del Río), was queer. As head of MGM’’s art department from 1924 to 1956, Gibbons not only helped define the studio’’s visual identity but also co”founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and designed the Oscar statuette itself. Fittingly, he remains ‘” excluding Walt Disney’’s short”subject record ‘” the most honored individual in Oscar history, with 39 nominations and 11 wins.

• Rumors have long surrounded Hans Dreier, who led Paramount’’s art department from 1927 to 1950, and Van Nest Polglase, head of RKO’’s art department from 1932 to 1942 and later at Columbia until 1946. Dreier, working with director Josef von Sternberg and cinematographer Lee Garmes, helped craft the iconic Marlene Dietrich look of the early 1930s, as seen in films such as Morocco (1930) and Shanghai Express (1932).

• Polglase, meanwhile, oversaw Carroll Clark’’s sleek Art Deco designs for the Astaire'”Rogers musicals (1933′”1939) and supervised Perry Ferguson’’s groundbreaking work on Citizen Kane (1941). His career, however, was tragically curtailed by struggles with alcoholism.

• CINEMATOGRAPHY: Among the many branches of filmmaking, cinematography has historically been dominated by straight white men. Yet examining the studio era through the lens of queer-coded films reveals intriguing patterns. For most cinematographers listed (see Table IV), their involvement with queer cinema was limited to a single movie. However, a few standouts emerge. At Warner Bros., Harry Stradling (who began his career at MGM) and Ernest Haller distinguished themselves, contributing to six and four queer-coded films, respectively. Their prominence reflects Warner Bros.’’ significant role in this arena, accounting for roughly a quarter of the movies identified. Other notable figures include Russell Metty at Universal, Charles Lang at Paramount, and William Daniels at MGM, each of whom is credited with three queer-coded works. Hitchcock’’s trusted collaborator, Robert Burks’ name, also appears three times, while in England, Douglas Slocombe achieved the same tally. This distribution suggests that while queer-coded cinema was not a consistent focus for most cinematographers, specific individuals'”often tied to studios with a higher output of such films'”played a more sustained role in shaping its visual language.

LGBTQ, BUT NOT READY FOR HOLLYWOOD

Finally, two movies were based on Queer material, but because of the times in which they made their respective debuts – 1934 on Broadway for Lillian Hellman’’s play ‘Å“The Children’’s Hour’ and 1945 for Richard Brooks’’s novel ‘Å“The Brick Foxhole’ – American movie screens were not ready to hear the words homosexual, gay, queer or lesbian.

As a result, Hellman herself reworked ‘Å“The Children’’s Hour” into a heterosexual triangle. Directed by William Wyler under the title ‘Å“These Three’ for Samuel Goldwyn, it was a significant success. Wyler later reworked the material using Hellman’’s original storyline in 1961 to lesser effect.

With a screenplay by John Paxton, ‘Å“The Brick Foxhole” was adapted into the 1947 Oscar-nominated movie ‘Å“Crossfire’ by director Edward Dmytryk, featuring a stellar cast that included Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, and Sam Levene. The book’’s homophobia, however, was replaced by antisemitism; the country’’s ability to sympathize with certain minority groups only extended so far in the late 1940s.

STUDIO BREAKDOWN

Among the Hollywood Studios, Warner Bros. is the clear winner when it comes to producing/distributing LGBTQ+ movies under the Hays Code, with 25% of the films listed. MGM comes in second (13%) followed by Universal in third position (9%). Sixty-six (88%) of the films are from the US, with eight from the United Kingdom (11%) and one from Sweden.

• Warner Bros (including Warner-Pathé and Warner Bros. Seven Arts): 19
• MGM: 10
• Universal (including Universal-International): 7
• Columbia (including Horizon-Sam Spiegel and British Lion) 6
• RKO: 3
• Paramount: 4
• Twentieth Century Fox (TCF): 6
• United Artists (including The Mirisch Company): 3
• Allied Artists: 1
• Film-Makers Distribution: 1
• Filmways: 1
• Internet Archive: 1
• Monterey Productions (Howard Hawks): 1
• Republic Pictures: 1
• Selznick International: 1
• Transatlantic (Alfred Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein) 1
• Rank (including Anglo Allied Pictures): 2
• Ealing: 1
• Joseph Janni Productions: 1
• Romulus Films: 1
• Titanus Films: 1
• Vantage Films: 1
• Woodfall Films: 1
• AB Svensk Filmindustri; 1

SOURCE MATERIAL

Of the seventy-five movies listed, one is a cinema verité, and the rest are narrative features. Of these, 15 (20%) are original screenplays, while 59 (80%) were adapted from another medium.

The source material during this period came from a rich collection of gay playwrights and novelists: Tennessee Williams and William Inge, Patricia Highsmith, Oscar Wilde, Patrick Dennis, and Herman Melville.

75 QUEER FILMS

SIX of the movies listed won BEST PICTURE, while a further NINE were nominated in this category.

LGBTQ+ CHARACTER: The LGBTQ+ character in the movie and the actor who plays him or her.

LGBTQ+: LGBTQ+ people who have worked on the movie in question either in front of, or behind, the camera – actors, writers, directors, etc. The LGBTQ+ actor may or may not have played an LGBTQ+ CHARACTER in the film.

1. The Bride of Frankenstein

(1935)

A-

James Whale

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTER

*Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger)

LGBTQ+

DIRECTOR: James Whale

ACTOR: Ernest Thesiger

Susan Sontag: Notes on Camp: 1964: The Partisan Review

You thought it (camp) meant a swishy little boy with peroxided hair, dressed in a picture hat and a feather boa, pretending to be Marlene Dietrich? Yes, in queer circles they call that camping. ‘¦ You can call [it] Low Camp’¦

Susan Sontag: The Partisan Review 1964

High Camp is the whole emotional basis for ballet, for example, and of course of baroque art ‘¦ High Camp always has an underlying seriousness. You can’’t camp about something you don’’t take seriously. You’’re not making fun of it, you’’re making fun out of it. You’’re expressing what’’s basically serious to you in terms of fun and artifice and elegance. Baroque art is basically camp about religion. The ballet is camp about love ‘¦

Susan Sontag: The Partisan Review 1964

Director James Whale’’s masterpiece is as close to Susan Sontag’’s definition of high camp as the movies can deliver. Elsa Lanchester’’s star is born in the title role, sporting the most creative ‘Å“do’ in cinema history. Gay actor Ernest Thesiger, whose portrait was sketched by no less than John Singer Sargent in 1911, gives his most famous performance as Dr. Frankenstein’’s gay mentor, Dr. Pretorious.

Having arrived in Hollywood with R. C. Sherriff’’s “Journey’’s End,’ Whale was signed by “Uncle’ Carl Laemmle to a five-year contract at Universal Studios. The result was one of the significant periods in Universal’’s history, with Whale producing such classics as Waterloo Bridge, Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and The Bride of Frankenstein. Unfortunately, his adaptation of ‘Å“The Road Back ” (1937), Erich Maria Remarque’’s follow-up to “All Quiet on the Western Front,’ was not a success, and by 1941, his film career was over.

The premise was suggested by ‘Å“Frankenstein,‘ the 1818 novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Cinematography: John J. Mescall

Music: Franz Waxman

Universal Pictures

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2. Top Hat

(1935)

A+

Mark Sandrich

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS

*Horace Hardwick (Edward Everett Horton)

*Bates (Eric Blore)

LGBTQ+

ACTOR: Eric Blore

ACTOR: Edward Everett Horton

ACTOR: Erik Rhodes

CHOREOGRAPHER: Hermes Pan

COSTUME DESIGNER: Bernard Newman

THE BEST OF THE ASTAIRE-ROGERS MOVIES

Of the nine films Astaire and Rogers made at RKO Pictures in the thirties, ‘Å“Top Hat’ is their best. It’’s also their most indubitably gay, with Eric Blore doing his butler with a superior attitude and Edward Everett Horton, whose own unique variation on the double take (an actor’’s reaction to something, followed by a delayed, more extreme reaction) had yet to become tiresome.

Irving Berlin’s songs are some of his best, and the dance to “Cheek to Cheek,” choreographed by Astaire and his longtime collaborator and alleged lover at the time, Hermes Pan, is Astaire-Rogers at their peak.

Gay actor Erik Rhodes, who had also appeared in ‘Å“The Gay Divorcee’ the previous year, makes an indelible impression as Alberto Beddini, a dandified Italian fashion designer with a penchant for malapropisms. Rhodes spent most of his life on Broadway; the rest of his Hollywood output was mainly forgettable.

The film’’s production design (by Carroll Clark, with Van Nest Polglase being the head of the design department) marked the peak of the Art Deco movement in Hollywood.

The original screenplay, written by Allan Scott and Dwight Taylor, is based on a story by Taylor; cinematography is by David Abel

RKO

OSCAR NOMINATION: BEST PICTURE

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3 Sylvia Scarlett

(1935)

B-

George Cukor

(APPROVED)

LGBTQ+ CHARACTER

*Sylvia/Sylvester Scarlett (Katherine Hepburn)

LGBTQ+

ACTOR: Cary Grant

ACTRESS: Katherine Hepburn

DIRECTOR: George Cukor

COSTUME DESIGNER: Bernard Newman

Depressed after his wife’s passing and plagued by mounting gambling debts, Henry Scarlett (Edmund Gwenn) flees France for England with his teenage daughter, Sylvia (Katherine Hepburn), in tow. Since Henry plans to continue his nefarious ways by smuggling yards of lace into England to sell on the black market (and avoid import tax), Sylvia dresses as a boy, whom she christens Sylvester, to throw the police off their scent. On the Channel ferry to London, they meet charming con man Jimmy Monkley (Cary Grant), and before you can say “Southampton,” the duo soon becomes a trio despite Jimmy turning Henry over to the authorities to avoid being accosted himself.

This was the first time Grant’s famous Cockney persona began to register on film, and he all but steals the picture. Unfortunately, the film’s themes of sexual fluidity were ahead of its time, and it was a financial disaster for RKO Studios, losing a reported $363,000. It also led to Hepburn being labeled box office poison, a moniker from which she would not recover until signing with MGM in 1940.

The film’s standing with critics and the public has gradually improved over the years, and it wears its Queerness proudly. Hepburn continues to do drag even after it is no longer necessary for the character, and in one memorable scene, she is kissed by a woman. It also marks the only time in which Hepburn, a gay actress, overtly channeled her own sexuality on screen.

The film marked the first of four Hepburn/Grant pairings'”the others being Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby (1938), the Cukor-directed Holiday (also 1938), and The Philadelphia Story (1940). The latter was a triumph for all concerned, including Cukor, Hepburn and Grant.

Adapted from the 1918 novel by Compton Mackenzie, the movie also features Brian Aherne as an Englishman who shows an interest in Hepburn’s character but whose ardor quickly vanishes when Sylvester reverts to Sylvia!

Mel Berns, the head of the RKO Makeup Department, created Hepburn’s impressive makeup and hair design. Berns’s work on films such as “Citizen Kane” and “Notorious” still resonates today.

Cinematography: Joseph H. August

RKO

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4. The Women

(1939)

A-

George Cukor

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTER

*Nancy Blake (Florence Nash)

 LGBTQ+

DIRECTOR: George Cukor

ACTRESS: Marjorie Main

COSTUME DESIGNER: Gilbert Adrian

ART-SET DIRECTION: Cedric Gibbons

“The Women’ is the first American film with an all-female cast. All the art featured in the movie was by women. The screenplay was written by two women (Anita Loos and Jane Murfin) based on a play written by a woman (‘Å“The Women’ by Claire Booth Luce from 1936). All the animals featured were female. Unfortunately, this being 1939, everyone behind the camera was male, albeit with Hollywood’’s most outstanding gay director, George Cukor, at the helm just one month after being fired from ‘Å“Gone with the Wind’ for, by some accounts, being too gay! The only apparent lesbian, an ‘Å“old maid’ who always wears slacks – no, it’’s not Katherine Hepburn – is played by Florence Nash.

Cinematography:

Joseph Ruttenberg

Oliver T. Marsh

MGM

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5. The Wizard of OZ

(1939)

A-

Victor Fleming

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTER

*Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr)

 LGBTQ+

COSTUME DESIGN: Gilbert Adrian

ART-SET DIRECTION: Cedric Gibbons

The Wizard of Oz (1939) tells the story of Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl who is swept away by a tornado to the magical Land of Oz. With her dog Toto and three companions'”a Scarecrow, a Tin Man, and a Cowardly Lion'”she journeys down the Yellow Brick Road to meet the Wizard, hoping he can help her return home. Along the way, they confront the Wicked Witch of the West, ultimately discovering that the power to go home was within Dorothy all along.

Judy Garland/Dorothy: She is the mother of all of us! Before there was Barbra, before there was Liza, before there was Madonna, before there was Lady Gaga, there was Judy.

How and why gay men came to refer to themselves as ‘Å“Friends of Dorothy,’ I don’’t know. Judy Garland was not gay, but there was something glorious about her performance in ‘Å“The Wizard of Oz,’ which captured most people’’s hearts, gay or straight. Something vulnerable yet confident. And there’’s that incredible voice, at once innocent and knowing. She gets to sing the greatest movie song ever written, ‘Å“Over the Rainbow,’ thanks to the genius of Harold Arlen (music) and Yip Harburg (lyrics). Photographed in glorious Technicolor by Harold Rosson (bookended by black and white for Kansas) and directed by Victor Fleming, the man who took over ‘Å“Gone with the Wind’ after George Cukor was fired. Queer Cinema can be a small world. Oh, of course, Bert Lahr’’s Cowardly Lion was gay. Almost forgot!

Adapted from the novel by L. Frank Baum.

MGM

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6. Rebecca

(1940)

A+

Alfred Hitchcock

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTER

*Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson)

LGBTQ+

ACTOR: Laurence Olivier

ACTRESS: Judith Anderson

While working for Mrs.Van Hopper (Florence Bates) in Monte Carlo, a young woman (Joan Fontaine) becomes acquainted with Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier), a recent widower. After a brief courtship, they become engaged. They marry and then head to his mansion in England, Manderly. Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), the head housekeeper at Manderly, is obsessed with the memory of Maxim’’s first wife, Rebecca, who died under mysterious circumstances, and she despises the new Mrs. de Winter, whom she belittles at every opportunity. ‘Å“Rebecca’ marked the arrival in Hollywood (courtesy of ‘Å“Gone with the Wind,’ producer David O. Selznick) of the man who was, or would eventually become, the greatest director in the history of cinema. The movie boasts a superb performance by Joan Fontaine, who demonstrated that she was also blessed with the famed talent of Olivia de Havilland. With George Sanders, Reginald Denny, and Gladys Cooper.

REBECCA IS ONE OF HITCHCOCK’S SEVEN PERFECT FILMS.

Hitchcock often cast gay actors in LGBTQ+ roles, such as Judith Anderson in Rebecca, Anthony Perkins in Psycho, and John Dahl and Farley Granger in Rope.

Selznick International

Oscar-winning cinematography by George Barnes.

Music by Franz Waxman.

Adapted from the novel by Daphne du Maurier.

Hitchcock’’s cameo: 2:06:57 He is the man in a bowler hat and trenchcoat who crosses paths with George Sanders.

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7. The Maltese Falcon

(1941)

A-

John Huston

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS

*Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre)

*Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet)

*Wilmer Cook (Elisha Cook Jr)

LGBTQ+

COSTUME DESIGNER: Orry-Kelly

After several years as a screenwriter, John Huston made a smashing directorial debut with his adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’’s 1930 novel. It had been adapted once before in 1931 as a pre-code starring Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels. However, Huston’’s remake is now considered the definitive version. Humphrey Bogart got his big break playing Sam Spade, a San Francisco private detective dealing with three unscrupulous adventurers (Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, and Peter Lore), all seeking a jewel-encrusted falcon statuette. Everyone knows that Peter Lorre’’s character, Joel Cairo, is gay. Even Sam knows. Sam will only slap Joel, never giving him the dignity of a punch. Wilmer (Elisha Cook Jr.) is referred to as ‘Å“Wilmer the gunzel,‘ gunzel being an old English term for ‘Å“kept boy’ or homosexual. Since he is Kasper Gutman’’s kept boy, I can only assume that Sydney Greenstreet’’s Kasper is also gay. Splendid, dear boy!

Bogart would remain a star until he died in 1957.

One of the quintessential film noirs, ‘Å“Falcon” has not stood the test of time as well as some of its contemporaries, probably because its plot doesn’’t make much sense. However, the performances are there to savor, with Ms. Astor doing a superb turn as Bridget O’’Shaughnessy, a Celtic Tiger, avant la lettre. Meanwhile, the gay triumvirate of Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, and Elisha Cook Jr. brings up the rear!

Cinematography

Arthur (“Casablanca”) Edeson.

Warner Bros.

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8. The Man Who Came to Dinner

(1942)

A-

William Keighley

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTER

*Sheridan Whiteside (Monty Wooley)

LGBTQ+

ACTOR: Monty Wooley

SOURCE MATERIAL: Alexander Woollcott (The character of Whiteside is modeled on the famously acerbic gay theatre critic)

COSTUME DESIGNER: Orry-Kelly

I am not only walking out on this case, Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life, ever since I was a little girl, I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I am going to work in a munitions factory. From now on, anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest of pleasure. If Florence Nightingale had ever nursed YOU, Mr. Whiteside, she would have married Jack the Ripper instead of founding the Red Cross! (sic)

Nurse Preen (Mary Wickes) in “THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER”

Monty Wooley delights himself and his audience by playing the impossibly pompous Sheridan Whiteside in William Keighley’’s excellent 1941 adaptation of George Kaufman/Moss Hart’’s play ‘Å“The Man Who Came to Dinner.’

While passing through small-town Ohio during a cross-country lecture tour, Whiteside breaks his hip after slipping and falling on the icy steps of the house of the Stanleys, a prominent Ohio family with whom he’’s supposed to dine as a publicity stunt. He insists on recuperating in their home during the Christmas holidays.

The character of Whiteside is based on Kauffman and Hart’’s good friend, the acerbic gay theatre critic Alexander Woollcott. Bette Davis is perfection playing Whiteside’’s long-suffering yet understanding secretary. It’’s one of her few comedic roles, making you wonder why she didn’’t do more.

The excellent supporting cast includes Ann Sheridan, nicely parodying herself, Richard Travis as Miss Davis’’ love interest, the irrepressible Jimmy Durante singing ‘Å“Did You Ever Have the Feeling That You Wanted to Go, And Still Have the Feeling That You Wanted to Stay?,” Mary Wickes as Nurse Preen who has the unenviable task of nursing Whiteside back to health, Reginald Gardiner doing a parody of Noel Coward and Billie Burke and Grant Mitchell as the unfortunate Mr. and Mrs. Stanley.

Cinematography: Tony Gaudio

Warner Bros.

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9. Casablanca

(1942-1943)

A+

Michael Curtiz

(APPROVED)

LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS

*Rick (Humphrey Bogart)

*Captain Renault (Claude Rains)

 LGBTQ+

COSTUME DESIGN: Orry-Kelly

ART-SET DIRECTION: George James Hopkins

‘Å“This is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship’Å“

Rick to Captain Renault ‘Å“Casablanca’

After Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and Victor (Paul Henreid) are safely away on their plane and Major Strasser (Conrad Veidt) is dead, Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Captain Renault (Claude Rains) walk away together into the mist as Rick recites one of the movie’’s most famous lines to Louis.

THREE LOVE STORIES ARE GOING ON IN CASABLANCA:

ISLA-RICK AND ISLA-VICTOR,

AND THEN THERE IS THE LOVE STORY BETWEEN RICK AND CAPTAIN RENAULT.

The film takes place in Casablanca, Morocco, with most of the action unfolding at Rick’’s, a tavern named after the hero of the story, played by Bogart. The plot begins when an old flame, Ilsa Lund (Bergman), suddenly appears with her husband, Victor Laslow (Henreid), whom the Nazis want. Rick must decide whether to set aside his feelings for Ilsa to help Victor escape so that he can assist the Resistance.

However, three love stories happen in ‘Å“Casablanca’: Isla-Rick, Isla-Lazlo, and then there is the love story between Rick and Captain Renault. At the end, as they walk away together in the mist and Rick utters that immortal line, we realize that the tension has been there from the beginning. And their honeymoon is going to be at Camp Brazzaville. A notorious homosexual hangout, it was the Palm Springs of its day!

With Dooley Wilson as Sam, the piano player. Herman Hupfeld’’s song ‘Å“As Time Goes By’ was used to significant effect in the movie. The song’’s melody was incorporated into Max Steiner’’s famous score and used as a leitmotif throughout the film. However, the music was not written for the movie. It was initially written for the Broadway show ‘Å“Everybody’’s Welcome’ in 1931..

Written on the fly by the fabulous Epstein twins (Philip and Julius) together with Howard Koch and directed by Curtiz with what can only be described as the hand of God, “Casablanca” is one of the most romantic and enjoyable of all the great Hollywood movies.

The film had its world premiere on November 26, 1942, in New York City, coinciding with the Allied invasion of North Africa. It was released in Los Angeles and nationally on January 23, 1943, to coincide with the Churchill-Roosevelt Casablanca Conference. Hence, according to the AMPAS rules, the film was eligible for the 1943 Academy Awards despite being released in New York in 1942. At the 16th Academy Awards held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Thursday, March 2, 1944, it won Best Film (Hal B. Wallis producer), Best Director (Curtiz), and Best Adapted Screenplay (the Epstein brothers and Koch).

When the Best Picture award was announced, Jack Warner rushed to the podium to accept the honor, completely ignoring Wallis, who never forgave him. The distraught Wallis subsequently resigned from Warner Bros. and formed his own production company under the Paramount banner.

Adapted from the play “Everybody Comes to Rick’s by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison.

Cinematography: Arthur Edeson

Warner Bros.

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10. Meet Me in St. Louis

(1944)

A+

Vincente Minnelli

(APPROVED)

LGBTQ+

DIRECTOR: Vincente Minnelli

ACTRESS: Marjorie Main

SONGWRITER: Hugh Martin

MUSICAL ARRANGER: Roger Edens

ART-SET DIRECTION: Cedric Gibbons

COSTUME DESIGN: Irene Sharaff

Produced by Arthur Freed for MGM, this greatest of all movie musicals does not have any particular gay plot, but, with extraordinary stylish direction by Vincente Minnelli, three classic songs by gay songwriter Hugh Martin (with his songwriting partner Ralph Blane), and musical arrangements by the great Roger Edens, and the glorious costumes by Irene Sharaff the movie has GAY written all over it. A favorite of gay men since its opening in December 1944, it stars Judy Garland in her first adult role, and boy, does she look stunning in her Sharaff-designed costumes against a backdrop of Lemuel Ayers‘ lovingly designed early 20th-century interiors and George Folsey’s superb Technicolor cinematography.

Divided into a series of seasonal vignettes, starting with Summer 1903, it relates the story of a year in the life of the Smith family in St. Louis, leading up to the opening of the World’s Fair in the spring of 1904. Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe lovingly adapted the film from a series of short stories by Sally Benson originally published in The New Yorker magazine.  With Mary Astor and Leon Ames as the parents, Garland, Lucille Bremer, Joan Carroll and Margaret O’Brien as the children, Tom Drake as the boy next door, June Lockhart as a neighbor, Harry Davenport as the grandfather, and Marjorie Main as the family’s loyal cook.

Judy gets to sing THREE of her iconic songs, all written by Martin and Blane.

The Trolly Song

The Boy Next Door

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The latter, sung to Margaret O’Brien, is arguably the greatest of all Christmas songs.

Upon its release, Meet Me in St. Louis became the second-highest-grossing film of 1944 (behind “Going My Way”) and MGM’s most successful musical of the 1940s.

Garland and Minnelli were married in June 1945, and Liza was born in 1946. It was during this period that Garland’’s struggles with depression and addiction began to affect both her marriage and her career. This, and Minnelli’’s numerous affairs with men, caused the marriage to disintegrate, and they were divorced in 1951.

Cinematography: George Folsey

MGM

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11. The Uninvited

(1944)

B-

Lewis Allen

(APPROVED)

 LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS

*Pamela Fitzgerald (Ruth Hussey)

*The Ghost of Mary Meredith (Lynda Grey, uncredited)

*Stella Meredith (Gail Russell)

*Miss Holloway (Cornelia Otis Skinner)

 LGBTQ+

ACTRESS: Cornelia Otis Skinner

COSTUME DESIGNER: Edith Head

A Queer Ghost Story with so many lesbian characters that it’’s challenging to keep count! My best guess is FOUR (three living and one dead). ‘Å“The Uninvited’ was a big hit in 1944 and remains an entertaining film. The film opens with lesbian number one, Pamela Fitzgerald, played by Ruth Hussey. Pamela and her brother Rick (Ray Miland, then at the peak of his Hollywood stardom) fall in love with an old house on the Cornwall coast of England. The way director Lewis Allen introduces his film, you initially think they are newlyweds, which is quite naughty of him. Only after you notice Hussey’’s very boyish ‘Å“do” do you know this cannot be true! Heavens! Our brother and sister combo discover a room with a chill – it’’s a few degrees cooler than the rest of their dream house. It turns out that the ghost of lesbian number two is haunting it. That would be Mary Meredith. Mary, like Hitchcock’’s Rebecca four years earlier, died under mysterious circumstances by falling off a nearby cliff, and it seems that she wants her daughter Stella (Gail Russell, looking beautiful before the effects of her alcoholism began to show) to die in the same way. However, the communication between mother and daughter feels more erotic than maternal, and Stella likes it! Good grief, it’’s lesbian number three. It also transpires that Mary, before she passed to the other side of the Sapphic divide, had a female lover, leading us to lesbian number four, Miss Holloway, played by gay writer and actress Cornelia Otis Skinner. And then there is a second, more benevolent ghost named Carmel who, like Meredith, appears to have a deep bond with Stella. This one seems more maternal. We never see Carmel; we only hear her voice. Could be lesbian number five, but I doubt it!

The movie gives you the occasional shiver, and it’’s fun to see how Hussey and Skinner interpret their Queer characters – Hussey taking the comedic approach and Skinner giving us a variation on Judith Anderson’’s Mrs. Danvers. Today, what dazzles are Charles Lang’’s immaculate, Oscar-nominated, black-and-white cinematography and Victor Young’’s haunting theme for Stella, which was later made into a song with lyrics by Ned Washington entitled ‘Å“Stella by Starlight.’ The costumes are designed by the renowned gay costume designer Edith Head.

Now, as to Ray Milland’’s Rick’s sexual preferences, well, he is a music critic. Hmmmm!

Adapted by Dodie Smith and Frank Partos from the novel “Uneasy Freehold’ by Dorothy Macardle.

PARAMOUNT

NOT AVAILABLE FOR STREAMING. DVD and BLU-RAY available from AMAZON.

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