I recently saw this amazing doc on the TV channel Logo. I unfortunately didn't have any idea that there would be so many lesbian films profiled and I didn't get a chance to write any of the ones I hadn't heard of before down. If anyone out there has a full or partial list of the films featured in this doc could you please post? Thanks!
I love you, Victor, but you are not mine.
Films with lesbian undertones, plots or characters, shown in The Celluloid Closet:
Marlene Dietrich in Morocco (1930) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021156/
Madchen in Uniform (1931) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0022183/ wasn't featured in The Celluloid Closet because it wasn't a Hollywood film, but it's a classic lesbian film. Don't be put off by the subtitles.
Greta Garbo is Queen Christina (1933) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0024481/
Dracula's Daughter (1936) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027545/
Caged (1950) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042296/, with Agnes Moorehead who played Endora in the TV show "Bewitched," and Ellen Corby known for her portrayal as Grandma Walton on "The Waltons."
Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. DeWinter and Dame Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers in Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032976/
Doris Day and Lauren Bacall in Young Man with a Horn (1950) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043153/
Joan Crawford in Johnny Guitar (1954) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047136/
In a Lonely Place (1950) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042593/
Barbara Stanwyck and Capucine in Walk on the Wild Side (1962) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056671/
Although we're shown a clip, The Killing of Sister George (1968) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063185/ is not identified.
Sandy Dennis in The Fox (1967) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062990/
Windows (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081759/
Mariel Hemingway and Patrice Donnelly in Personal Best (1982) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084489/
John Sayles' Lianna (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085838/
Whoopi Goldberg and Margaret Avery in The Color Purple (1985) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088939/
Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau in Desert Hearts http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089015/ based on Jane Rule's Desert of the Heart.
Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma and Louise (1991) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103074/
Susan "You wouldn't have to get drunk to bed Catherine Deneuve, I don't care what your sexual history to that point had been" Sarandon and Catherine Deneuve in The Hunger (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085701/
Mary-Louise Parker and Mary Stuart Masterson in Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101921/. Based on Fannie Flagg's book "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe." In the book, Idgie & Ruth are clearly lovers, and we learn what Sipsey and Big George do when they're not working at the Cafe.
Go Fish (1994) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109913/
Meryl Streep has a gay housemate, played by Cher, in Silkwood (1983) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086312/
Sharon Stone takes us on a nostalgic journey to the halcyon days of bisexual killers in Basic Instinct (1992) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103772/, and the director's next movie is Showgirls.
Whoopi Goldberg gets to tell the loathsome prosecutor, "Yes I am a lesbian, and I bet women say that to you all the time," Mary-Louise Parker gets sick, and Drew Barrymore gets up-and-coming Matthew McConaughey in Boys on the Side (1995) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112571/
Another fun lesbian movie, not featured in the Celluloid Closet, is The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113416/
Thanks for that list! It saved me some leg work trying to find a copy of Celluloid Closet looking for a segment. I thought I remembered Rebecca mentioned in Celluloid Closet, but wasn't sure.
There was some debate over whether Hitchcock/DuMaurier were hinting that the Mrs. Danvers character (aka Frau Blucher) in Rebecca was in love as well as obsessed with the first Mrs. DeWinter. I thought that the clues were subtle but clear.
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world."
Even if these films are not related to the documentary, they're worth a view (I think):
Mulholland Drive, by David Lynch (Naomi Watts and Laura Helena Harring) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166924/
Boys Don't cry, by Kimberly Peirce (Hilary Swank and Chlöe Sevigny) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171804/
8 Femmes, by François Ozon... just a good cat fight (Catherine Deneuve and Fany Ardant) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283832/
Monster, by Patty Jenkins (Charlizde Theron and Cristina Ricci) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340855/
The Hours, by Stephen Daldry (Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman.... not altogether !) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274558/
5 stars to Silkwood and the Children's Hour too !
I saw LIANNA for the first time about a month ago...I really enjoyed it.
shareWhich one had Audrey Hepburn in it?
EDIT: NEver mind. I saw that it's The Children's Hour. Was there a film with Beatrice Arthur in it?
"Pigfarts is on Mars."
It's funny you should say that--I thought it was Beatrice Arthur for a second, too. It's that gravelly voice. But this was Barbara Stanwyck. I'm not sure, but I think the movie was "Walk on the Wild Side."
shareKudos to KayFrancis for that nearly complete list. I just had one more to add -- and it's a good one:
Shirley MacLean and Audrey Hepburn in The Children's hour http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054743/
Cheers
Great lists, guys! Thanks!
I never saw Morocco with Greta Garbo, but after seeing the clip in this doc, I want to see it. She was so hot in that tux! What a great scene! :)
I also must admit that I, too, laughed my ass off from the scene in Vanishing Point. I love road movies and that is one of my faves. That scene cracked me up, but it wasn't really the gayness, it was the fact that the two men sucked as highway robbers. LOL! He just bounced their asses right out of the car like it was nothing. I would've laughed if they'd been straight, too. That was funny!
"What did he want?"
"He said God sent him."
"What???"
"God sent him."
"On a *beep* Suzuki???"
sadly that's the best moment in "Morocco". The rest is all Gary Cooper, Gary Cooper, Gary Cooper. :(
allypuss said: sadly that's the best moment in "Morocco". The rest is all Gary Cooper, Gary Cooper, Gary Cooper. :(
LOL! Well, maybe I'll just cut out the part with her in it and skip the rest. ;(
"What did he want?"
"He said God sent him."
"What???"
"God sent him."
"On a *beep* Suzuki???"
mantis-in-lace said - I never saw Morocco with Greta Garbo
And you'll never see it! It's Marlene Dietrich who star in Morocco! If you liked Marlene with tuxedo you can watch other movies where she wore it, and many others where she always wore something masculine or complike a cap or a uniform.
Blonde Venus (with tuxedo), Seven Sinners (navy uniform), Shanghai Express (an officer cap and a suggestive pose with Anna May Wong), Dishonored (an aviator uniform), The Scarlett Empress (The glamourous full outfit of an emperor)
And there's also a song of her from the 20's which name I don't remember (it's german) but I promess I'll find it!
😀 Just caught the doc on CBS' Decades.
Loved your reply re: mistaking Marlene Dietrich for Greta Garbo.
[Several years ago] you mentioned a song in German that Dietrich sang. Are you thinking of "Falling in Love Again" from Blue Angel? When the film was remade, the song was translated into English. If memory serves me correctly.
Alas, darling! Morocco stars Marlene Dietrich, not Garbo! Dietrich had an affair with Edith Piaf, and this was where her energy may have been directed in Morocco.
If you read her daughter, Maria Riva's biography of her mother, you will learn about not only this, but all of the affairs of her mother. Garbo's lesbian scene is from Queen Christina, which is, arguably, also her best performance at MGM.
I've not seen Vanishing Point. I can't bring myself to see it. I'll stick with Garbo, thank you!
Loved THE CHILDREN'S HOUR too...one of MacLaine's finest hours.
shareYea, I agree that is the best part in Morroco. I liked it so much, I decided to wear a tux to prom (I'm a girl). Can't believe I actually got away with it seeing as how I live in the bible belt, but I did and it was awesome.
shareYou go grrrrl! ;-P
shareKayFrancis: Good job on such a thorough list. I just wanted to add Doris Day in Calamity Jane. In watching Celluloid Closet I kept waiting for some reference and was pleased when they showed Doris telling the character Katie Brown how beautiful she was and asking her how she keeps her dress up while looking down the front of it. And then of course her singing Secret Love with that beautiful voice.
shareIMDb has a list of the films.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112651/trivia?tab=mc&ref_=tt_trv_cnn