Kino Lorber: Pioneers of Queer Cinema

Releasing in virtual cinemas today through Kino Marquee are three European films from the 1930s that were landmarks in queer representation. Just in time for Pride Month, this trifecta offers some insight into the gay subculture of pre WWII Germany and Denmark and offers classic film fans an opportunity to broaden their horizons with movies they might not have encountered otherwise. These films were way ahead of their time and it seems fitting that they be presented in this new virtual format of theatrical releases. For the full listing of participating theaters, visit the Kino Marquee website.

Madchen in Uniform (1931)

Directed by Leontine Sagan

Germany

Sagan's seminal lesbian drama paved the way for queer films to come. Set in a Prussian all-girls school in Weimar Republic Germany, the story follows Manuela (Hertha Thiele), a new student who falls deeply in love with one of her teachers, Fraulein von Bernberg (Dorothea Wieck). As their relationship blossoms, the old-fashioned and strict headmistress threatens order and adherence to Prussian virtues at all costs. I won't go too much into this film as I'm writing a lengthy piece about it for TCM (I'll link it here once it goes live). There is a reason why this is such a landmark film. It broke down barriers in its representation of lesbian romance. Madchen in Uniform was a huge hit during its time. Germany had a thriving gay subculture before the Nazi regime who later would try to destroy this film. It was a hit overseas as well. After being banned during WWII, it enjoyed a revival in the 1970s from feminists and the lesbian community. It's been remade a few times and other lesbian dramas set in all-girl schools, Olivia (1950) (read my review of that film here!) and The Children's Hour (1961), soon followed.

Madchen in Uniform will be available next month on DVD and Blu-ray through Kino Lorber.

Michael (1924)

Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer

Denmark

Dreyer's atmospheric drama set in the art world is sophisticated as it is somber. Walter Slezak stars as the titular Michael, an up-and-coming artist who resides with his mentor/lover, the great Claude Zoret (Benjamin Christensen). Zoret is a great influence to Michael but their relationship is threatened when Zoret's new patron, Countess Zamikoff (Nora Gregor), who is after Zoret's wealth and seduces Michael as a means of getting to the money. Michael is a slow moving drama that can be a bit difficult to get into. It's worth your time just to watch a silent film that is so frank about the characters' sexualities The beautiful cinematography by Karl Freund doesn't hurt either. Furthermore, fans of Walter Slezak's later work, American films like Come September and Life Boat, will find him delightfully unrecognizable and the handsome Michael.

Michael is available on DVD through Kino Lorber and for digital rental or purchase through Kino Now.

Victor and Victoria (1933)

Directed by Reinhold Schünzel

Germany

Love Victor/Victoria (1982)? Here's your opportunity to watch the original! Victor and Victoria (1933) is a vivacious German musical that had me absolutely transfixed. It has an energy that is just infectious and kept me wanting more. Renate Muller stars as Susanne, a singer looking for her big break. She befriends Victor (Hermann Thimig), a vaudeville entertaining known for performing in drag as his alter-ego Victoria. When Victor falls ill with a cold, he convinces Susanne to pretend she's a man performing as a woman to cover for him. Susanne makes an unexpected splash as Victoria and continues the ruse by pretending to be a man who dresses up as a woman on stage full time. When she starts to fall for Robert (Anton Walbrook) things get a bit complicated. This was my favorite film of the three. And heck I'll go as far as to say it's even better than Blake Edwards' remake. I'd watch this again and again and it's already on my wishlist to get this on Blu-ray.


Victor and Victoria is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray through Kino Lorber.

Bruce Lee ESPN 30 for 30: Be Water

“Empty your mind. Be formless like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. If you put water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. It can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee

Directed by Bao Nguyen, ESPN Films presents Be Water, a new documentary about Bruce Lee, the cinema superstar and martial arts legend whose life was cut tragically short. In conjunction with the Bruce Lee Family Archive, Be Water, a reference to Lee's philosophy about martial arts combat, offers a comprehensive look at the charismatic leading man and powerhouse athlete who took the world by storm.

The American born Bruce Lee was raised in Hong Kong and was forever a man caught between two worlds. He would spend his career building a bridge between East and West. Lee began his career in the entertainment industry at a young age. His father, who did not appreciate Lee's developing interest in martial arts and acting, sent him back to America in hopes that his son would forge a different path.

Bruce Lee was a master of the martial arts combat known as Wing Chun. Lee studied other forms of combat and idolized Muhammad Ali whose boxing moves Lee incorporated into his own work. Originally Lee had plans to start a nationwide chain of martial arts schools but at a Long Beach Tournament he was spotted by hairdresser Jay Sebring who told his client producer William Dozier about Lee. Dozier had been looking for an Asian actor to appear in the television series The Green Hornet. Lee auditioned and got the part.

Credit: Bruce Lee Family

The rest should have been smooth sailing for Lee but it was anything but. Lee had everything going for him. He was handsome, charming, incredibly fit, a supremely talented athlete and had an on screen persona that was just electric. But being a Chinese American with a thick accent held him back in an industry that was just not ready or willing to accept him. Lee understood that making it in Hollywood was the Holy Grail of success. He went back to Hong Kong to make films hoping that would elevate his star power. There he proved that he was a film star. Bruce Lee was about to take Hollywood by storm with Enter the Dragon and his work on an upcoming feature film Game of Death. Tragically, he died in Hong Kong at the age of 32. He didn't live to see the success he could have in Hollywood or the legend that he would become.

"I'm sure that my father did not fully appreciate the behemoth he was up against. How deeply systemic it is. That said I don't think he was naive. He just believed in himself so deeply. He knew he had something to share that was worthwhile. He knew how hard he was willing to work." - Shannon Lee

Be Water is one of the best biographical documentaries I've ever had the privilege to see. And I don't make that statement lightly. Nguyen does an incredible job chronicling Bruce Lee's life and career, weaving in Lee's struggles as a Chinese-American man and the treatment of Asians in the entertainment industry. There are moments that are just infuriating like seeing how Lee had to fight to get dialogue for his character Kato in The Green Hornet and how he lost the role in the TV series Kung Fu to actor David Carradine. Throughout the documentary we get a sense of Lee's free spirit, his love for his family, his natural confidence, outgoing nature and strong work ethic. Lee was a proactive participant in his journey; never complacent, always fighting for better roles and representation.

The documentary is solely made up of archival footage including clips from his films and television appearances, home videos, audition tapes, family photos, interviews, newsreel footage and more. It is narrated by the interviews with those who knew him best including his daughter Shannon Lee, his wife Linda Lee Caldwell, his brother Robert Lee, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Nancy Kwan, close friends, film producers and others. If you watch this film, do not stop before you get to the end credits. Perhaps the best end credits I have ever seen. I really love what Nguyen did with this. It was quite touching and I was very moved. When you watch the film you'll know what I mean.

"As a child of Vietnamese war refugees, I grew up in America where depictions of Asians and Asian Americans were through a very skewed and narrow lens... It wasn’t until I saw a young man named Bruce Lee onscreen did that all change. I saw someone who looked like me for the first time, with an unapologetic confidence and magnetism that resonated on every inch of the silver screen. Since then and through the making of this film which has taken me over 5 years, I have learned about the racial struggles that Bruce Lee had to overcome to become a cultural icon and it has always been my hope to share his personal story with all the fears, struggles, and vulnerabilities that made him human." Bao Nguyen

Be Water premieres on ESPN as part of their 30 for 30 series on June 7th at 9 PM EST.

Black Film History: A Reading List

Whether you want to expand your knowledge or diversify your summer reading challenge selections, here are a variety of classic film books about black film history to consider.

I didn't include any buy links. I encourage you to Google these titles (or click on my reviews if I listed them) if you want more information. If you're interested in purchasing books, I recommend contacting your favorite independent bookstore to see if they have any titles in stock or if they can order on your behalf. I recently placed an order with Larry Edmunds Bookshop that included Sidney Poitier's memoir This Life and a biography on Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

If you want to get started with a few articles before diving into books, I have some pieces I wrote for Turner Classic Movies, DVD Netflix and The Film Detective that I recommend. Over the past year and a half I've been researching African-American film history and am really proud of the pieces that I was able to write for those outlets. Full list is at the very bottom of this post.

If you have recommendations to share, please leave a comment. I would love to hear from you.

PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Hollywood Black

The Stars, The Films, The Filmmakers

by Donald Bogle

(Written Review)

Other titles:

 Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks

An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films

by Donald Bogle

Bright Boulevards, Bold Dreams

The Story of Black Hollywood

by Donald Bogle

Brotherhood in Rhythm
The Jazz Tap Dancing of the Nicholas Brothers
by Constance Valis Hill

The Devil Finds Work
by James Baldwin

The Many Faces of Josephine Baker
Dancer, Singer, Activist, Spy
by Peggy Caravantes
(Review)

Life Beyond Measure
Letters to my Great-Grandaughter
by Sidney Poitier
(Review)

The Measure of a Man
A Spiritual Autobiography
by Sidney Poitier

Photo by Sammy Davis Jr.
(Review)

Stealing the Show
African American Performers and Audiences in 1930s Hollywood
by Miriam J. Petty

Stepin Fetchit
The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry
by Mel Watkins
(Review)

MORE TITLES TO CONSIDER

America's Mistress

The Life and Times of Eartha Kitt

by John L. Williams

Black Oscars

From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans

By Frederick Jr. Gooding

Dorothy Dandridge
A Biography
by Donald Bogle

Hattie McDaniel
Black Ambition, White Hollywood
by Jill Watts

Hollywood at the Intersection of Race and Identity

edited by Delia Malia Caparoso Konzett

In Black and White
The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.
by Wil Haygood

Josephine Baker
by Jose-Luis Bocquet and illustrated by Catel Muller

Mr. Bojangles
The Biography of Bill Robinson
by James Haskins and N.R. Mitgang

My One Good Nerve
by Ruby Dee

My Song: A Memoir
by Harry Belafonte with Michael Shnayerson

Oscar Micheaux
The Life of America's First Black Filmmaker
by Patrick McGilligan

Separate Cinema
The First 100 Years of Black Poster Art
by John Duke Kisch

Sing and Shout

The Mighty Voice of Paul Robeson

By Susan Goldman Rubin

Stars for Freedom
Hollywood, Black Celebrities and the Civil Rights Movement
by Emilie Raymond

Stormy Weather

The Life of Lena Horne

by James Gavin

MY ARTICLES ON BLACK FILM HISTORY

DVD Netflix

Spotlight on Sidney Poitier

Spotlight on Harry Belafonte

Turner Classic Movies

The Jackie Robinson Story (1950)

Herb Jeffries, The First Black Western Star

Sidney Poitier and A Patch of Blue (1965)

Nat King Cole and The Blue Gardenia (1953)

On the 30th Anniversary of Do the Right Thing (1989)

Paris Blues (1961)

Lena Horne Takes on Hollywood

Intruder in the Dust: A Forgotten Treasure

Cold War Tales from The Bedford Incident

Harry Belafonte's Production of The World, The Flesh and The Devil (1959)

Across 110th Street (1972)

Nothing But a Man (1964)

Fear City AKA New York City in the '70s

The Little Colonel (1935)

Film Detective

Hi De Ho (1947)