LauraJean Ermayne and Gene Damon

Variant Films, c. 1960

A Time Capsule

 

 

With the exception of a few privately filmed and circulated stag films, which of course do not come within the scope of this study, lesbianism is treated only vaguely and by indirection in motion pictures. Hollywood codes (which regulate distribution even of foreign films in this country) state unequivocally that homosexuality may not be portrayed or suggested. Even when the predominantly homosexual novel COMPULSION was filmed, the script—though including a rape scene—was fudged so that the relationship between the two boys was never hinted at—except vaguely in one scene, where Orson Welles as the great lawyer said that the opposition might find “something fishy” in the fact that they had no other friends. Your editor has since been informed that the movie NEVER SO FEW portrayed recognizable homosexuals. Hollywood codes are growing less stringent by the day, with the general relaxation of censorship, and by next year there should be some additions to this list.

 

Thanks are due to Miss Ermayne for allowing us to reprint the material used in her article on The Sapphic Cinema in THE LADDER for March, 1959 ... the Editors.

 

THE ADVENTURES OF KING PAUSOLE. Filmed in France in 1932, with Emil Jannings. Based on the Pierre Louys novel, this starred 366 models and dancers from the Folies bergeres; among these near-nude and nubile nymphs was one disguised as a male ballet dancer, with whom the King’s daughter Aline had a romance even after discovering that they were of the same sex.

 

ALL ABOUT EVE took the Academy Award in 1950. There is a very lesbian situation used to introduce the main protagonist into the movie; later events proved the woman only pretending lesbian-type devotion, but the inference, in the beginning, is clear and unmistakable. (GD)

 

THE BARKER 1928. A short silent picture which was banned in many cities because it featured a scene in which a very butchy type in men’s pajamas got into bed with a fluffy blonde type; caused a lot of critical hoop-la. (GD)

 

THE CHILDREN’S HOUR, a film based on the Lillian Hellman play reviewed in this Checklist, bears a question mark; will someone who has seen the picture please let us know whether lesbian content was implicit in the movie?

 

CHILDREN OF LONELINESS, outright anti-homophile propaganda, was mostly male-oriented, but did contain a gay night-club scene, and picture and office butch whose offer of affection and protection drove one girl to a psychiatrist’s couch—where she was counselled against “abnormal love”.

 

DARK VICTORY. 1939, recently shown on TV, concerns a talented, charming woman (Bette Davis) dying of a brain tumor; her constant companion and secretary is clearly in love with her, and there were numerous beautiful and heartbreaking scenes, some of which would be impossible in a movie not dealing with such a sad situation.

 

CLUB DES FEMMES (Girl’s Club in English) an admirable French film starring Danielle Darieux, reviewed at length in THE

 

LADDER. The lesbian element is treated explicitly and with taste and charm.

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ESCAPE TO YESTERDAY, a French film with one brief sequence in a cabaret, where recognizably lesbian types were portrayed.

 

MAEDCHEN IN UNIFORM, a classic German film of the thirties, reviewed at length in J H Foster’s book, starring Hertha Thiele as Manusia and Dorothea Wieck as her teacher. The film has recently been re-made but has not yet reached the USA.

 

THE GODDESS, an art film released about a year ago, starring Kim Stanley, shows the life of an unwanted child who grows up to be a movie queen and ends up living with her secretary, obviously a lesbian; the relationship is portrayed with unusual frankness. This movie is still playing in specialty theatres around the big cities.

 

NO EXIT, a French film of the play by Jean-Paul Sartre; setting, limbo; one of the characters, a lesbian who fell in love with a married woman and drove her to suicide by spooking her.

 

OPEN CITY, realistic Italian film of 10 years or so ago, had a recognizable lesbian type-cast in it.

 

PIT OF LONELINESS, a French film based on the novel OLIVIA and starring Simone Simon. “Something of a disappointment” says LJE.

 

QUEEN CHRISTINA, 1934. This famous screen classic starred Greta Garbo; the variant bits were minor, but they were there. (GD)

 

ROSE OF WASHINGTON SQUARE 1939. Now-dated tear-jerker starring Alice Faye; in one long scene the heroine sings standing by a piano, while a clearly seen, very mannish and extremely obvious “type” drools over her. Not imagination; this one was the veddy veddy correct, monocled type. (GD)

 

SIGN OF THE RAM, a filming circa 1947 of the Margaret Ferguson novel, starred Susan Peters as the wheelchaired heroine; the “crush” between Leah and Christine was treated vaguely but recognizably to anyone who had read the book.

 

TIME OF DESIRE. “Much has been made of the Uranian aspect of this film but personally I couldn’t see it....” LJE

 

TORST (“Thirst”) directed by Ingmar Bergman, is supposed to tell the lives of three women strangely in love, including a lesbian. As yet none of your editors or contributors have seen the film.

 

TURNABOUT, the Thorne Smith sex-farce where a man’s ego is transmuted into a woman’s body.

 

TITLE UNKNOWN; 1950 or 1951; French with English subtitles; action took place in a girl’s reformatory, much reference to lesbianism and some overt scenes; one where a girl caressed the breast of another and whispered love words to her, another where a tough street type tells a young innocent “See these marks on my thighs, they are each the marks of a lover, the left leg for boys and the right for girls.” I don’t see any other way to interpret that scene. (GD)