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Director

Engel, Bonnie

Year

1977

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Year

1987

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Director

Cromwell, John

Year

1950

Synopsis

From the Cinema News and Property Gazette, 1950: "Harrowing account of experiences of first-offender in women's prison. Powerful overall indictment of conditions that may possibly exist in American institutions, the picture dwells incessantly on varied types that people this sordid scene: crime-soaked females cut off from common decencies; sadistic matron open to bribes; kindly prison superintendent struggling for sweeping reforms; elderly vice-queen who organizes paroles. Gripping narration almost overpowering in realism of terrible conditions and slow decline of inmates' decent feelings. Superb line-up of sensitive portrayals, backed by sympathetic direction that never strikes a jarring note. Excellent production quality. First-rate dramatic entertainment that deserves wide exhibition, though hardly recommended for squeamish tastes." With Eleanor Parker, Hope Emerson, Jan Sterling, Agnes Moorehead. Caged is pure ‘50s Hollywood. It features a sadistic matron with unstated lesbian feelings—a clear creation of male attitude, simultaneously humiliating and lusting after her charges. The inmates have the look and demeanor of maturing starlets instead of hardened criminals, and it's sanitized of any substantial lesbian content, while including titillating shower room scenes. But Caged offers the best aspects of Hollywood vehicles. It's well cast: Agnes Moorehead plays the warden, Eleanor Parker is pretty convincing, and Hope Emerson received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the sadistic guard. In addition, this black-and-white feature is wonderfully, noirishly lit.

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Director

Leonard, Arthur

Year

1945

Synopsis

This rediscovered all-black-cast musical stars Tim Moore ("The Kingfish" on the popular ‘50s “Amos ‘n’ Andy” television series) as a butch queen pursued by three men with marriage on their minds. Black comedy team Patterson and Jackson costar, along with a musical lineup that includes the Slam Stewart Trio, Sid Catlett Orchestra (with a cameo by Gene Krupa), Deek Watson and His Brown Dots, Ann Cornell, and the International Jitterbugs. Although Herald Pictures was a white production company, Boy! What a Girl! was made for the contemporary black audience, and featured some of the best black musical and comic talent of the day. The acting is less than naturalistic at times—and the plot less than subtle—but these were characteristics of most of the big studio musicals of the ‘40s. A Harlem tenement is home to the film's collection of entertainers. The plot revolves around a pair of small-time producers trying to stage a show, while wooing the daughters of the show's wealthy backer. The romantic element in this romantic comedy is heterosexual; the comedy element, however, is eminently queer. When the show's other backer doesn't arrive from "Gay Paree”, the producers enlist the talents of a bald, cigar-smoking female impersonator to masquerade as “Madame Deborah.” Class emerges rather strangely as the defining stereotypical element in this convoluted comedy of errors.

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Director

Unknown, Unknown

Year

1944

Synopsis

Soldiers on R&R at Guadalcanal are entertained by an outrageous Army drag troupe. A gem from the National Archives, Washington, D.C.

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Director

Cahn, Edward

Year

1940

Synopsis

The "Our Gang" kids present a schoolyard force full of same-sex affection and a classic drag scene with Alfalfa and Spanky.

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Director

Oswald, Richard

Year

1919

Synopsis

Different from the Others is the first film to ever openly discuss homosexuality. This silent German film was directed by Richard Oswald and stars Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Casablanca). It was produced at the time of the first gay liberation movement led by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld in prewar Berlin. Hirschfeld's Institute of Sexual Science was at the center of the fight against Germany's anti-gay legislation, Paragraph 175, which banned homosexual acts between men. The film tells the story of a famous violinist who is blackmailed by a young man he once took home from a party. The matter goes to court and both are sent to jail for their respective crimes. The film concludes with a plea for an end to such tragedies and injustices. Only a fragmented copy of the film survived the 1930's when the Nazis destroyed all prints of the film.

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