A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON GAY AND LESBIAN FILM
February 06

By guest writer Bachchoo Vrishchak  
Hosted on Theslowlane.com 

This is not a bibliography just on queer cinema.  It is rather a three-part bibliography on films of interest to the gay and lesbian community and often to a wider audience. It covers U.S., international, experimental and underground as well as the genre of queer cinema. 
 
The first edition of the standard work on gay Hollywood cinema,  Vito Russo's THE CELLULOID CLOSET: HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE MOVIES (1981), was followed by a film of the same name, directed by Robert Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.  A similar film on British cinema, Andrea Weiss' A BIT OF SCARLET (1977), is available from Jezebel Productions in New York, but I do not know of a book accompanying it. Weiss' VAMPIRES AND VIOLETS (1993) appears on my second list: she co-directed the documentary BEFORE STONEWALL (1995) and several other films.
 
THE CELLULOID CLOSET remains the most basic of these books--it tells not only what but why historically, in a witty fashion, while some others are mere alphabetical listings of films followed by credits and brief notes. The books by Kenneth Anger, a renowned underground filmmaker, are the first in the line of gossipy tell-all exposés by an insider/outsider, and the Hadleigh books try desperately to skip along that same primrose path. With no footnotes or indexes,  Hadleigh's THE LAVENDER SCREEN (1981) is of little use for serious research. THE BENT LENS (1997) begins where the 1987 edition of THE CELLULOID CLOSET ends (Russo is deceased) with short essays on Europe, lesbian vampires, Asia, musicals and Australia, and then becomes an extensive alphabetical list: its cross-references would be valuable for film programmers. Several other books are studies of a particular cineaste, some are screenplays. Post-modern criticism, or the analysis of signs and point of view without much relation to narrative, is represented here by THE SEXUAL SUBJECT. OUT IN CULTURE attempts to establish a gay film critic's manifesto, personal and militant, and contains several essays on the supposed template of homophobia, Alfred Hitchcock. The only book on the first list to mention THE SONG OF THE LOON is THE SONG OF THE LOON (2004).  
 
 A second list, of books not in my library, follows. Annie Proulx's short story BROKEBACK MOUNTAN is available in at least four editions; under its own name; in Proulx's own CLOSE RANGE: WYOMING STORIES (1999); in PRIZE STORIES 1998: THE O'HENRY AWARDS (1998); and a movie tie-n book.
 
A third list contains books, on 'XXX" films, books that may or may not be in my library. 

Two prominent websites for gay and lesbian film are PopcornQ Movies and, at yahoo.com, gayfilmenthusiasts. Amazon book citations slight publisher and date, so some information is incomplete. U.S. and U.K. titles change, admitting some inconsistency. Research on the web, of course, never ends.  

Here is the first list of books, from my library: 
 
Anger, Kenneth. HOLLYWOOD BABYLON. San Francisco: Straight Arrow,1975.
 
   ____. HOLLYWOOD BABYLON II. New York: Dutton, 1984. 
 
 Amory, Richard. SONG OF THE LOON. Vancouver B.C.: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2004. (Includes an article on the author's reaction to the film.)  
 
Bell-Meteru, Rebecca. HOLLYWOOD ANDROGYNY. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993   
 
THE BENT LENS. Ed. Claire Jackson and Peter Tapp. Brunswick: Australian Calalogue Company, 1977.  
 
Duralde, Alonso. 101 MUST-SEE MOVIES FOR GAY MEN. New York: Advocate Books, 2005.  
 
Ehrenstein, David.  OPEN SECRET: GAY HOLLYWOOD. New York: Harper Collins, 2nd ed. 2000.  
 
Hadleigh, Boze. HOLLYWOOD LESBIANS. New York: Barricade Books, 1994.
 
 ____.  THE LAVENDER SCREEN: THE GAY AND LESBIAN FILMS: THEIR MAKERS, CHARACTERS, AND CRITICS.  New York: Citidel Press, 2nd ed. 2001.
 
Kureshi, Hanif. MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE and THE RAINBOW SIGN. London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1986. 
 
Landis, Bill. ANGER: THE UNAUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF KENNETH ANGER. New York: Harper Collins, 1996.  
 
Milstead, Frances, with Kenneth Heffermean and Steve Yeager. MY SON DIVINE. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2001.  
 
OUT IN CULTURE: GAY, LESBIAN AND QUEER ESSAYS ON POPULAR CULTURE. Ed. Corey E. Creekmur and Alexander Coty.  Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1995.
 
Proulx, Annie, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: STORY TO SCREENPLAY. New York: Scribner, 2005.     
 
THE SEXUAL SUBJECT: A 'SCREEN' READER IN SEXUALITY. London: Routledge, Chapman and Hall Inc., 1992.  
 
Russo, Vito.  THE CELLULOID CLOSET: HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE MOVIES. New York: Harper and Row, 1981.  
 
Stewart, Steve. GAY HOLLYWOOD FILM AND VIDEO GUIDE: OVER 75 YEARS OF MALE HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE MOVIES. Laguna Hills: Companian Publications, 1993.  
 
Suarez, Juan A. BIKE BOYS, DRAG QUEENS AND SUPERSTARS: AVANT-GARDE, MASS CULTURE AND GAY IDENTITIES IN THE 1960S UNDERGROUND CINEMA. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. (Primarily on Anger, Jack Smith and Andy Warhol.)  
 
Tinkom, Mathew. WORKING LIKE A HOMOSEXUAL: CAMP, CAPITAL, CINEMA. Pittsburgh: Duke University Press, 2002. (On Vincente Minnelli, Andy Warhol, Anger and John Waters.)   
   
 
 The second list, of books not from my library:  
 
Alexander Scott and Larry Karaszewski. ED WOOD. Boston and London: Faber and Faber, 1995.  
 
Bennett, Alan. PRICK UP YOUR EARS: THE SCREENPLAY. London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1987.   
 
Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffen. QUEER IMAGES: A HISTORY OF GAY AND LESBIAN FILM IN AMERICA. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006   
 
Bergund, Jason and Beverly West. GAY CINEMATHERAPY: THE QUEER GUY'S GUIDE TO FINDING YOUR RAINBOW ONE MOVIE AT AT TIME. New York: Universe, 2004.   
 
Bernhard, Sandra. CONFESSIONS OF A PRETTY LADY. New York: Harper and Row, 1998.   
 
Broughton, James. COMING UNBUTTONED: A MEMOIR. San Francisco: City Lights, 1993.   
 
Chapman, David. RETRO STUD: MUSCLE MOVIE POSTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Portland: the Collectors Press, 2002.
 
Chester, Craig. ADAM AND STEVE. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2005.  
 
Cocteau, Jean.  PAST/TENSE: THE COCTEAU DIARIES, 2 volumes.  New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovonovich, 1983.   
 
Core, Philip. CAMP: THE LIE THAT TELLS THE TRUTH. New York, Delilah Books, 1984.   
 
Crimmins, Cathy.  HOW THE HOMOSEXUALS SAVED CIVILIZATION: THE TRUE AND HEROIC HISTORY OF HOW GAY MEN SHAPED THE MODERN WORLD. New York: Penguin, 2004.   
 
Crisp, Quentin. HOW TO GO TO THE MOVIES. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
   
Curtis, Andrea. A NEW WORLD OF GODS AND MONSTERS. Boston and London: Faber and Faber, 1998.   
 
De Angelis, Michael. GAY FANDOM AND CROSSOVER STARDOM. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.   
 
Dior, G.K. SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS. Bedside Press, 2001.  
 
 
Dyer, Richard.  THE CULTURE OF QUEERS. London: Routledge, 2001.   
 
____. NOW YOU SEE IT: STUDIES ON LESBIAN AND GAY FILM. New York: Routledge, 1990.  
 
 Fischer, Erica. AIMEE AND JAGUAR: A LOVE STORY, BERLIN 1943. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.   
 
Foster, David William. GENDER AND SOCIETY IN CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN CINEMA. Austin: University of Texas, 1999.   
 
Fulwood, Neil. 100 SEX SCENES THAT CHANGED CINEMA. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 2003.   
 
GAYS AND FILM. Ed. Richard Dyer. New York: Zoetrope, 1984.   
 
Giles, Jane. THE CINEMA OF JEAN GENET: UN CHANT D'AMOUR. London: British Film Institute, 1991.  
 
 ____. CRIMINAL DESIRES: JEAN GENET AND THE CINEMA. London: Creation Books, 2002.   
 
Gill, Brenda. TALLULAH. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972.   
 
Ginibre, Jean-Louis. LADIES OR GENTLEMEN: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF MALE CROSS-DRESSING IN THE MOVIES. Pub Group West, 2005.   
 
Gunn, Drewey Wayne. THE GAY MALE SLEUTH IN PRINT AND FILM: A HISTORY AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.    
 
Hofler, Robert. THE MAN WHO INVENTED ROCK HUDSON: THE PRETTY BOYS AND DIRTY DEEDS OF HENRY WILLSON. New York: Carrol and Graf, 2005.
 
Hadleigh, Boze. CELLULOID GAZE. New York: Limelight Editions, 2002.
 
 ____.HOLLYWOOD GAYS. New York: Barricade Books, 1996.   
 
Harris, Daniel. THE RISE AND FALL OF GAY CULTURE. New York: Hyperion, 1997.
 
HOLLYWOOD DRAG. Ed. J.C. Suares. Charlottesville: Thomason-Grant Inc., 1994.
   
Hudson, Rock and Sara Davidson. ROCK HUDSON: HIS STORY. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1986.   
 
Hunter, Tab with Eddie Muller. TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2005.
 
Jarman, Derek. CHORMA: A BOOK OF COLOR. Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 1995.  
 
 ____. DEREK JARMAN: A PORTRAIT. London: Thames and Husson, 1993.   
 
 KICKING THE PRICKS. London: Vintage, 1987.  
 
 ____. MODERN NATURE. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 1994.
 
Koestenbaum, and Tony Kushner. THE QUEEN'S THROAT: OPERA, HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE MYSTERY OF DESIRE. DeCapo, 2001.   
 
Kureshi, Hanif. LONDON KILLS ME: THREE SCREENPLAYS AND FOUR ESSAYS. London: Penguin, 1991.   
 
Lahr, John. DAME EDNA AND THE RISE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.   
 
____. PRICK UP YOUR EARS. Discus, 2000.   
 
Madsen, Axel. THE SEWING CIRCLE: HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST SECRET: FEMALE STARS WHO LOVED OTHER WOMEN. London: Kensington Books, 2002  
 
 ____. STANWYCK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BARBARA STANWYCK. iUniverse, 2001.   
 
Mann, William. WISECRACKER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM HAINES, HOLLYWOOD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY STAR. New York: Viking, 1998.   
 
Morris, Bonnie J. GIRL REEL. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2000.   
 
McGilligan, Patrick. GEORGE CUKOR: A DOUBLE LIFE.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.   
 
Mitchell, Julian. WILDE: THE SCREENPLAY. Orian, n.d.   
 
Orton, Joe. THE ORTON DIARIES. New York: Harper and Row, 1986.   
 
OUT TAKES: ESSAYS ON QUEER THEORY AND FILM. Ed. Ellis Hanson. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1999.   
 
Proulx, Annie. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE. 2005.   
 
____. "Brokeback Mountain," in Proulx's CLOSE RANGE: WYOMING STORIES. Scribner, 1999.
 
____. "Brokeback Mountain,"  in PRIZE STORIES 1998: THE O'HENRY AWARDS New York: Anchor Books, 1998.
 
Tyler, Parker. SCREENING THE SEXES: HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE MOVIES. New York: De Capo, 1993.   
 
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LESBIAN AND GAY FILM AND VIEDO.  Ed. Jennie Olson. New York: Serpent's Tail, 1996.   
 
Van Sant, Gus. EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO. London: Faber and Faber, 1993.   
 
Walsh, Frank. SIN AND CENSORSHIP: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.   
 
Wansell, Geoffrey. HAUNTED IDOL: THE STORY OF THE REAL CARY GRANT. London: Quill, 1983.  
 
 Waters, John.  ART--A SEX BOOK. (with Bruce Hainley)  
 
 ____.CRACKPOT: THE OBSESSIONS OF JOHN WATERS. New York: Scribner, 2003.  
 
 ____. DIRECTOR"S CUT. New York: Scala, n.d.  
 
 ____. SHOCK VALUE.   
 
____. TRASH TRIO.
 
Waugh, Thomas. THE FRUIT MACHINE: 20 YEARS OF WRITING ON QUEER CINEMA. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.
 
Weiss, Andrea. VAMPIRES AND VIOLETS: FROM THE CROSSDRESSING STARS, DIETRICH AND GARBO, TO THE VAMPIRE FILMS OF THE LATE 60S, TO SILKWOOD AND THE COLOR PURPLE. New York: Penguin, 1993.    
Alexander Scott and Larry Karaszewski. ED WOOD. Boston and London: Faber and Faber, 1995. 
 
Bennett, Alan. PRICK UP YOUR EARS: THE SCREENPLAY. London and Boston: Faber and Faber, 1987.  
 
Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffen. QUEER IMAGES: A HISTORY OF GAY AND LESBIAN FILM IN AMERICA. New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006  
 
Bergund, Jason and Beverly West. GAY CINEMATHERAPY: THE QUEER GUY'S GUIDE TO FINDING YOUR RAINBOW ONE MOVIE AT AT TIME. New York: Universe, 2004.  
 
Bernhard, Sandra. CONFESSIONS OF A PRETTY LADY. New York: Harper and Row, 1998.  
 
Broughton, James. COMING UNBUTTONED: A MEMOIR. San Francisco: City Lights, 1993.  
 
Chapman, David. RETRO STUD: MUSCLE MOVIE POSTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD. Portland: the Collectors Press, 2002.
 
Chester, Craig. ADAM AND STEVE. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2005. 
 
Cocteau, Jean.  PAST/TENSE: THE COCTEAU DIARIES, 2 volumes.  New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovonovich, 1983.  
 
Core, Philip. CAMP: THE LIE THAT TELLS THE TRUTH. New York, Delilah Books, 1984.  
 
Crimmins, Cathy.  HOW THE HOMOSEXUALS SAVED CIVILIZATION: THE TRUE AND HEROIC HISTORY OF HOW GAY MEN SHAPED THE MODERN WORLD. New York: Penguin, 2004.  
 
Crisp, Quentin. HOW TO GO TO THE MOVIES. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998.
  
Curtis, Andrea. A NEW WORLD OF GODS AND MONSTERS. Boston and London: Faber and Faber, 1998.  
 
De Angelis, Michael. GAY FANDOM AND CROSSOVER STARDOM. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2001.  
 
Dior, G.K. SLEEPING UNDER THE STARS. Bedside Press, 2001. 
 
 
Dyer, Richard.  THE CULTURE OF QUEERS. London: Routledge, 2001.  
 
____. NOW YOU SEE IT: STUDIES ON LESBIAN AND GAY FILM. New York: Routledge, 1990. 
 
 Fischer, Erica. AIMEE AND JAGUAR: A LOVE STORY, BERLIN 1943. New York: Harper Collins, 1995.  
 
Foster, David William. GENDER AND SOCIETY IN CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN CINEMA. Austin: University of Texas, 1999.  
 
Fulwood, Neil. 100 SEX SCENES THAT CHANGED CINEMA. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 2003.  
 
GAYS AND FILM. Ed. Richard Dyer. New York: Zoetrope, 1984.  
 
Giles, Jane. THE CINEMA OF JEAN GENET: UN CHANT D'AMOUR. London: British Film Institute, 1991. 
 
 ____. CRIMINAL DESIRES: JEAN GENET AND THE CINEMA. London: Creation Books, 2002.  
 
Gill, Brenda. TALLULAH. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1972.  
 
Ginibre, Jean-Louis. LADIES OR GENTLEMEN: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF MALE CROSS-DRESSING IN THE MOVIES. Pub Group West, 2005.  
 
Gunn, Drewey Wayne. THE GAY MALE SLEUTH IN PRINT AND FILM: A HISTORY AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2005.   
 
Hofler, Robert. THE MAN WHO INVENTED ROCK HUDSON: THE PRETTY BOYS AND DIRTY DEEDS OF HENRY WILLSON. New York: Carrol and Graf, 2005.
 
Hadleigh, Boze. CELLULOID GAZE. New York: Limelight Editions, 2002.
 
 ____.HOLLYWOOD GAYS. New York: Barricade Books, 1996.  
 
Harris, Daniel. THE RISE AND FALL OF GAY CULTURE. New York: Hyperion, 1997.
 
HOLLYWOOD DRAG. Ed. J.C. Suares. Charlottesville: Thomason-Grant Inc., 1994.
  
Hudson, Rock and Sara Davidson. ROCK HUDSON: HIS STORY. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1986.  
 
Hunter, Tab with Eddie Muller. TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2005.
 
Jarman, Derek. CHORMA: A BOOK OF COLOR. Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 1995. 
 
 ____. DEREK JARMAN: A PORTRAIT. London: Thames and Husson, 1993.  
 
 KICKING THE PRICKS. London: Vintage, 1987. 
 
 ____. MODERN NATURE. Woodstock: Overlook Press, 1994.
 
Koestenbaum, and Tony Kushner. THE QUEEN'S THROAT: OPERA, HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE MYSTERY OF DESIRE. DeCapo, 2001.  
 
Kureshi, Hanif. LONDON KILLS ME: THREE SCREENPLAYS AND FOUR ESSAYS. London: Penguin, 1991.  
 
Lahr, John. DAME EDNA AND THE RISE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.  
 
____. PRICK UP YOUR EARS. Discus, 2000.  
 
Madsen, Axel. THE SEWING CIRCLE: HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST SECRET: FEMALE STARS WHO LOVED OTHER WOMEN. London: Kensington Books, 2002 
 
 ____. STANWYCK: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BARBARA STANWYCK. iUniverse, 2001.  
 
Mann, William. WISECRACKER: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM HAINES, HOLLYWOOD'S FIRST OPENLY GAY STAR. New York: Viking, 1998.  
 
Morris, Bonnie J. GIRL REEL. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 2000.  
 
McGilligan, Patrick. GEORGE CUKOR: A DOUBLE LIFE.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.  
 
Mitchell, Julian. WILDE: THE SCREENPLAY. Orian, n.d.  
 
Orton, Joe. THE ORTON DIARIES. New York: Harper and Row, 1986.  
 
OUT TAKES: ESSAYS ON QUEER THEORY AND FILM. Ed. Ellis Hanson. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1999.  
 
Proulx, Annie. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN: NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE. 2005.  
 
____. "Brokeback Mountain," in Proulx's CLOSE RANGE: WYOMING STORIES. Scribner, 1999.
 
____. "Brokeback Mountain,"  in PRIZE STORIES 1998: THE O'HENRY AWARDS New York: Anchor Books, 1998.
 
Tyler, Parker. SCREENING THE SEXES: HOMOSEXUALITY IN THE MOVIES. New York: De Capo, 1993.  
 
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LESBIAN AND GAY FILM AND VIEDO.  Ed. Jennie Olson. New York: Serpent's Tail, 1996.  
 
Van Sant, Gus. EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO. London: Faber and Faber, 1993.  
 
Walsh, Frank. SIN AND CENSORSHIP: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.  
 
Wansell, Geoffrey. HAUNTED IDOL: THE STORY OF THE REAL CARY GRANT. London: Quill, 1983. 
 
 Waters, John.  ART--A SEX BOOK. (with Bruce Hainley) 
 
 ____.CRACKPOT: THE OBSESSIONS OF JOHN WATERS. New York: Scribner, 2003. 
 
 ____. DIRECTOR"S CUT. New York: Scala, n.d. 
 
 ____. SHOCK VALUE.  
 
____. TRASH TRIO.
 
Waugh, Thomas. THE FRUIT MACHINE: 20 YEARS OF WRITING ON QUEER CINEMA. Durham: Duke University Press, 2000.
 
Weiss, Andrea. VAMPIRES AND VIOLETS: FROM THE CROSSDRESSING STARS, DIETRICH AND GARBO, TO THE VAMPIRE FILMS OF THE LATE 60S, TO SILKWOOD AND THE COLOR PURPLE. New York: Penguin, 1993.   


These books, on XXX films, may be in my library:  
 
Adams, Matt. HUSTLERS, ESCORTS AND PORN STARS: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO MALE PROSTITUTION IN AMERICA. Las Vegas: Insider's Guide, 1998.  
 
Burger, John R. ONE-HANDED HISTORIES: THE EROTICO-POLITICS OF GAY MALE VIDEO PORNOGRAPHY. New York: Harington Park Press, 1995.
  
Edmonson, Roger. BOY IN THE SAND: CASEY DONOVAN ALL-AMERICAN SEX STAR.  Los Angeles and New York: Alyson, 1998.  
 
____.CLONE: THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF AL PARKER, GAY SUPERSTAR. Los Angeles: Alyson, 2000.  
 
Isherwood, Charles.  WONDER BREAD AND ECSTACY: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOEY STEFANO. Los Angeles: Alyson, 1996.  
 
Karvoski, Ed. Jr. ALL MALE: QUIRKY, QUOTES, INTIMATE INTERVIEWS FROM THE MOST DESIRED MEN ON EARTH. New York: Kensington Books, 1999.  
 
La Rue, ChiChi with John Erich. MAKING IT BIG: SEX STARS, PORN FILMS AND ME. Los Angeles and New York: Alyson, 1997.

Bibliography by guest writer Bachchoo Vrishchak
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