Homosexuality in experimental film: The 1920s
Michael (1924)
Dir. Carl Theodor Dreyer
Perf. Benjamin Christensen, Walter Slezak and Nora Gregor
gERMANY
Kino Video, 2004. DVD
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An early German made film directed by esteemed Danish filmmaker Carl Dreyer before he directed his most famous and influential films, Michael revolves around the relationships between a respected artist, his protégée Michael and their latest client, a countess. While the relationship between Michael and his mentor is ambiguous and never explicitly stated to be of a homosexual nature, there are significant implications to this end. The master artist’s seemingly unrequited love for Michael is another one of the earliest depictions of homosexual desire in film history. The film is directed with an assured hand by Dreyer and is similar in style to many silent films of the time. Dreyer’s voice and unmistakable technique as a director isn’t entirely present yet, but it is interesting to witness him tackle such unconventional material early in his career. The film is not experimental or avant-garde in technique or form, but the subject matter is relevant to the history of homosexual representation in film. Not just being an early depiction of homosexual desire, but being produced in an era when homosexual relations were criminal acts makes it subversive and avant-garde in its own right. Homosexuality was not a common theme in much of the art at the time, and the lifestyles of those of a sexual minority were very much underground. It is interesting to note the progression of homosexual depiction in early silent film, in a more subtle and ambiguous nature, to more explicit depictions of homosexuality later in the twentieth century. It is an interesting lead-up to more direct representation of homosexuality.
Wings (1927)
Dir. William A. Wellman
Perf. Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen and Clara Bow
Paramount, 2012. DVD
usa
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This 1927 film was the first to receive the Academy Award for Best Production, the precursor to today’s Best Picture. Directed by William A. Wellman and featuring Clara Bow, a major silent film star, the picture was a large production and one of considerable repute and popularity. The story details the troubles two young friends, Jack and David, have when they both fall in love with the same woman. Both men enlist and go to war as fighter pilots for the American forces in WWI, which leads to the tragic death of David when Jack accidently shoots down the German plane he is piloting. The scene where Jack consoles and caresses David as he lays on his death bed resulted in the first recorded, lips-touching kiss between two men on celluloid. The kiss is one of strong platonic affection and friendship, both the act is one a great significance for homosexual viewers who had never seen such a tender physical act between two men before. Furthermore, the film is documented as being one of the first major picture to show nudity; in a scene where you catch a glimpse of Clara Bow getting changed. It is a woman shown here, but the physicality and sexual forwardness gives the film a very modern feeling. Though the film was a technical marvel, with many groundbreaking aerial action scenes, there is not much formally that makes it an avant-garde work. It is the subject matter that it briefly touches on and the sensual nature of the bodies on display that connects the film to the later avant-garde works.
Other Notable Films:
1922 - Salome
1924 - The Soilers
1927 - A Wanderer in the West
1928 - Sex in Chains
1929 - Pandora's Box
1922 - Salome
1924 - The Soilers
1927 - A Wanderer in the West
1928 - Sex in Chains
1929 - Pandora's Box