`Celluloid Closet': Homosexuality In Film

If you watch a lot of silent movies, you begin to sense that a different social code existed in the late 19th/early 20th century.

It isn't expressed so much in the dialogue or descriptions in the title cards, but in the body language, gestures and unconcerned reactions to what would now be regarded as unconventional behavior.

This is especially true of same-sex relations. Physical affection between men is freely expressed in some of the most famous movies of that era.

In D.W. Griffith's "Intolerance" (1916), the king of Babylon and his bodyguard kiss each other goodbye, on the lips. In "Flesh and the Devil" (1927), John Gilbert and Lars Hanson seem as interested in each other as they do in Greta Garbo. The Oscar-winning "best picture" of 1927, "Wings," ends with Buddy Rogers caressing and kissing his dying best friend, Richard Arlen.

"The Celluloid Closet," Jeffrey Friedman and Rob Epstein's new documentary about the history of homosexuality in the movies (it opens here Friday), showcases the "Wings" finale.

One of the opening clips is from an 1895 Thomas Edison short in which two men are dancing. The movie's finale blends it with the image of Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas dancing in "Philadelphia" (1993).

"In an earlier version, we had a montage of early male buddy kisses," said Friedman, speaking by phone from San Francisco. "Then we decided that one clip from `Wings' would be a more eloquent way of doing it."

The Edison clip came from the archives of the late Vito Russo, who wrote the 1981 book, "The Celluloid Closet," that inspired the film. He used it in film-and-lecture shows that he took around the country, stopping in Seattle at the 1982 Seattle International Film Festival and in 1990 at the Museum of History and Industry.

In between the two glimpses of the Edison film are many negative and stereotypical treatments of homosexuals, including the better-dead-than-gay imagery of "Vanishing Point" (1971), "Advise and Consent" (1962) and "The Children's Hour" (1961).

But the final sequence, which relies heavily on declarations of love between homosexuals in such recent low-budget films as "Parting Glances" (1986), "Desert Hearts" (1985) and "Longtime Companion" (1990), draws together the Edison dancers with similarly unashamed, contemporary images of same-sex affection.

"At the end we're acknowledging the influence of independent film, showing that gay characters have now evolved to the point where the possibility of love exists," said Friedman.

The filmmakers, who shared an Oscar for their 1989 documentary, "Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt," had been working with Russo on a film version of his book since 1985. When Russo visited Seattle in the spring of 1990, a few months before he died of AIDS, he was certain that public television would finance it.

"That was his wish, his desire," said Epstein. "We submitted it but didn't get anywhere with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting."

Eventually funding became available from other sources, including German television and England's Channel 4.

"Hugh Hefner came onboard when HBO committed to half the funding, and he came up with the difference," said Epstein. "He's one of the three major donors." By 1992, word was out that the film would be made, and clips and suggestions started pouring in.

"People remembered something from their childhoods, or they were watching TV and saw something," said Friedman. "We found an obscure movie from 1927 called `Wanderer of the West' (about a `sissy' and a macho cowboy) that Vito never mentioned, and we'd never heard of it before."

The finished film includes interviews with Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg, Harvey Fierstein, Susan Sarandon and many others, as well as substantial clips from major-studio productions, including "Ben-Hur" (1959), "Spartacus" (1960), "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) and "Rebecca" (1940).

Gore Vidal discusses his introduction of a homosexual subtext into the "Ben-Hur" script; the clip that follows demonstrates what the film's star, Charlton Heston, has often denied. Tony Curtis remembers how his bathing scene with Laurence Olivier in "Spartacus" was cut during the film's initial release. "Rebel" screenwriter Stewart Stern discusses the homosexuality of Sal Mineo's character, while the lesbian Judith Anderson played in "Rebecca" is "outed" by author-lecturer Susie Bright.

One sequence had to be abandoned after it was completed. Access to clips from several film biographies was denied.

"We'd put together a montage of `The Agony and the Ecstasy' (Charlton Heston played Michelangelo), `Alexander the Great' (with Richard Burton), `Hans Christian Andersen' (starring Danny Kaye) and `Night and Day' (Cary Grant as Cole Porter)" - all homosexual characters, said Epstein.

"We had trouble with every single one of them. The Richard Burton estate objected to using `Alexander the Great.' Charlton Heston claimed Michelangelo was not homosexual, and HBO's lawyers were concerned about outing Cole Porter. Sam Goldwyn Jr. was confused about `Hans Christian Andersen.' He thought we were outing Danny Kaye."

The sequence might not have made the final cut anyway. The first version of "The Celluloid Closet" was far too long and unwieldy.

"There were lots and lots of titles," said Friedman. "But our goal was to make a feature-length film that would play as a movie. We started with Vito's book, his research and his analysis, then it took on a life of its own. The goal was to create something that had a dramatic arc, that you want a theatrical film to have."

In some instances, the interviews with Hollywood stars generate a debate. Shirley MacLaine regrets playing the victimized lesbian schoolteacher in "The Children's Hour," while Susie Bright argues that there is something quite valid about her portrayal of a self-hating lesbian.

"We didn't know that would happen," said Epstein. "We had no specific idea how things would cut in relationship to one another. We didn't have a chance to talk with Shirley MacLaine beforehand. This was true of all the stars. They just showed up before the interview."

One of the more surprising faces is Farley Granger, who co-starred with John Dall as the Leopold and Loeb characters in Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope" (1948), though it's been years since he's made a film.

"We found him through my mother, a friend of my mother who is a friend of his," said Friedman.

"The actors were all very busy. They said no initially, but we went back to them, through Howard Rosenman (the film's executive producer), or Lily Tomlin (Russo's friend and the film's narrator). The ones who said yes are the ones you see in the movie."