Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Lawbolisted Powerful

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Screen Squinty The premise of the topic of homosexuality and Hollywood was very concisely articulated through the documentary style, and utilized a chronological overview that lays the ground work coherently and engagingly, with just the right particular attention to both the various stereotypes and tropes of homosexuality, censorship, and the utilization of purposeful, yet subtle, innuendo that many filmmakers throughout the years utilized in history to work around censorship.The interviewees were a good selection of scholars, actors, and filmmakers. The Narrator, Lilly Tomlin, did a good job of narrating, expressing just the right tone and infliction for the subject matter. Despite there being a narrator, what was being said in the film did a good job of being expressed through the cinematic images being utilized, the narrator, and the interviewees such as Tony Curtis, Whoopi Goldberg, and Daniel Melnick to name a few of those whom contributed.Overall it was an excellent basis for the topic, very engaging despite its traditional documentary format, and you can tell that a fair about of care and attention went into its production. Despite the fact that it might be a little dated by 2015's standards, it is still relevantly informative and fascinating, and is something that should still be watched even now if you are a cinema history buff or just plain love cinema.

jbolante93 The Celluloid Closet is well-put-together documentary style film that does an excellent job in revealing how homosexuals were portrayed in Hollywood. The narration, along with movie clips, served as both informative and entertaining; with a perfect balance. It was informative enough to be taken seriously, yet at the same time, entertaining enough that the documentary was interesting, if not fascinating.In terms of organization, the film is very orderly and sequential. It starts with the early 1900s and proceeds to move forward till the late 1900s. I must also compliment the way the movie effectively compares and contrasts portrayals of homosexuals in different time periods, allowing for a smooth and easy to follow transition.What I loved most about the film is that it also features the varying opinions of different actors (such as Tom Hanks, Whoopie Goldberg, Tony Curtis, and others). This gives a wider variety of insight than just your own thought on watching the small movie clips.Although I do recommend the film, I did hope to see more on how the movies mentioned in the film became accepted. Another complaint is that the film lacked information on the directors or actors that should be given credit for exposing queer films into the public (especially during the early-mid 1900s when homosexuality wasn't socially acceptable). Overall, this is a great documentary for any gender or sex, whether you're homosexual or heterosexual.

rpathak "The Celluloid Closet" was an overall great documentary on how homosexuality has evolved in film over decades of movies. In the early 1930s the film explained how movies portray homosexuality to be humorous. The actors that played the gay role were called "Sissies" subliminally portraying to the audience that they are homosexuals.As the movie progressed it had displayed other aspects on how the community now pictured homosexuals. The "Hayes Code" was created to rate movies on how appropriate they were. The Catholic Church as well joined in the process of rating by evaluating certain films to see if the movie was "appropriate" by their religious standards. Films later depicted homosexuals as villains such as Dracula's sister forcing the main actress to undress in front of her. In Albert Hitchcock the two villain murderers were homosexuals as well. At a certain point in these movies they had many gay subliminal symbols that the censors did not understand. During the 40s queer film was progressing to different degree. "The Celluloid Closet" explained that seeming gay was almost as bad as being gay. There would be films that would criticize a character for walking a certain way or even saying certain words. The screenwriter of Rebel without a cause stated that he would make the main character to be displayed as a gay outcast if it were during the millennium time period. In the 50's and 60's many characters of films were obviously gay. The first film to admit the homosexual intention was "The Victim" in 1961. Although there was a steadily progress of queer film, homosexuality was then presented as a crime. In the queer films the gay character would end up dying whether it be by a hero slaying the homosexual, or they became depressed and committed suicide. Queer film over the last four decades has evolved from a mental illness to being presented a sign of affection and love. Now in the 20th century queer film is accepted in the theaters almost everywhere in the nation.

MartinHafer This was a very good documentary about the treatment of homosexuals in films. It presents a somewhat thorough journey from showing homosexuality in a very negative light (such as psychos) to the more modern sympathetic and normalization of gay life in films.However, from a historical viewpoint, it wasn't particularly complete or thorough, as in the years before the newly enforced Production Code (1934), there were quite a few films about gays. While some were the mincing stereotypical images, many were not and silent and international films had quite a few gay or heavily implied characters--all of which was ignored in this documentary. If you are looking for this, like I am, then this film ain't it.My final complaint is something you can't blame on this documentary. Because the film was made in 1995, many of the complaints about not having enough gay images in film seems rather out of date, as gay characters abound not only in film but seem to abound on television. The complaint I have is that although the many gays about on television because they are incredibly clichéd--usually being noble (to the point of nausea in some instances) or campy and clever (like the "Queer Eye" folks). While not politically correct, showing gays who are jerks, country folk (NOT like you'd see in DELIVERANCE), average folks, Mexicans, baseball players, pizza delivery guys or even idiots would be a nice change of pace--at least this would make them more three- dimensional.