Lively and absorbing.

| May 28, 2020

"The Celluloid Closet" goes all the way back to the birth of cinema, to an experimental Thomas Edison short of two men dancing, to trace the odd, funny, sad and disgraceful history of homosexual iconography on film.

| Original Score: 4/4 | May 28, 2020

An immensely entertaining, galloping reflection on screen perceptions of lesbians and gay men, from the humorous to the heinous to the heartening.

| Mar 26, 2009

A witty, touching study of Hollywood's (mostly on screen) treatment of homosexuality.

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 19, 2003

Celebrity interviewees and glossy graphics further turn this into a colorful overview with the popular appeal of a "That's Entertainment!" and with an even more interestingly gay agenda than the history of Hollywood musical comedy.

| May 20, 2003

It's interesting to see how gay and lesbian themes began to be treated openly in films, but it's fascinating to see how -- earlier -- those themes were used subtextually in films that make no overt reference to the real subject.

Full Review | Jan 1, 2000

The filmmakers have gathered together a staggering array of the moving images that the book could only show in still form or verbal description.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 1, 2000

Makes it clear Hollywood wanted it both ways: It benefitted from the richness that gays added to films, but didn't want to acknowledge their sexuality.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 1, 2000

The Celluloid Closet is a first-rate work of cinematic criticism, tracing the ways in which, despite cultural disapproval, gay images, ideas, and implications have slipped into the medium.

| Original Score: A- | Mar 15, 1996