| LGBT films |
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| By decade |
This is a list of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related filmsreleased before 1920. It contains theatrically released films that deal with important gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender characters or issues and may have same-sex romance or relationships as a plot device.
| Title | Year | Director | Country | Genre | Cast | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dickson Experimental Sound Film | 1895 | William Dixon | United States | Although described as having a homosexual subtext by film historian Vito Russo this interpretation has been disputed. [1] | ||
| The Eclipse, or the Courtship of the Sun and Moon | 1907 | Georges Méliès | France | Short, fantasy | a.k.a. L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune | |
| Algie the Miner | 1912 | Alice Guy-Blaché | United States | Comedy, western | Billy Quirk, Mary Foy | |
| A Florida Enchantment | 1914 | Sidney Drew | United States | Comedy | Edith Storey, Sidney Drew, Ethyl Lloyd, Grace Stevens, Charles Kent, Jane Morrow, Ada Gifford, Lillian Burns, Allan Campbell, Cortland van Deusen, Frank O'Neil | Based on the novel and play (the latter of which is now lost) of the same name by Fergus Redmond and Archibald Clavering Gunter |
| Zapata's Gang | 1914 | Urban Gad | Germany | Comedy | Asta Nielsen, Fred Immler, Senta Eichstaedt, Adele Reuter-Eichberg and Mary Scheller | a.k.a. Zapatas Bande |
| Filibus | 1915 | Mario Roncoroni | Italy | Adventure, science fiction | Valeria Creti, Giovanni Spano, Cristina Ruspoli | |
| The Wings | 1916 | Mauritz Stiller | Sweden | Drama | Egil Eide, Lars Hanson, Lili Bech, Julius Hälsig | a.k.a. Vingarne; based on the novel Mikaël by Herman Bang |
| Behind the Screen | 1916 | Charlie Chaplin | United States | Comedy, romance | Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell | After Chaplin's prophand character kisses Edna Purviance's character in drag, villain Eric Campbell sees this and begins doing an effeminite dance to mock Chaplin's character. |
| I Don't Want to Be a Man | 1918 | Ernst Lubitsch | Germany | Comedy, romance | Ossi Oswalda, Curt Goetz, Ferry Sikla, Margarete Kupfer, Victor Janson | a.k.a. Ich möchte kein Mann sein |
| Different from the Others | 1919 | Richard Oswald | Germany | Drama | Conrad Veidt, Fritz Schulz, Reinhold Schünzel, Anita Berber, Magnus Hirschfeld, Karl Giese | a.k.a. Anders als die Andern |
| A Man’s Girlhood | 1919 | Paul Legband, Julius Rode [2] | Germany | Biopic | Erika Glässner, Hans Albers, Olga Engl and Lotte Stein [2] | a.k.a. Aus eines Mannes Mädchenjahren, based on the autobiography of the same name by Karl M. Baer (under the pseudonym N.O. Body) about his experiences as an intersex person |
The Celluloid Closet is a 1996 American documentary film directed and co-written by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, and executive produced by Howard Rosenman. The film is based on Vito Russo's 1981 book The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, and on lecture and film clip presentations he gave from 1972 to 1982. Russo had researched the history of how motion pictures, especially Hollywood films, had portrayed gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender characters.
Vito Russo was an American LGBT activist, film historian, and author. He is best remembered as the author of the book The Celluloid Closet, described in The New York Times as "an essential reference book" on homosexuality in the US film industry. In 1985, he co-founded the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a media watchdog organization that strives to end anti-LGBT rhetoric, and advocates for LGBT inclusion in popular media.