Michael (1924): Carl Theodor Dreyer's Inic Gay Silent Film, Starrg Walter Slezak | Emanuel Levy

Contents:

• MICHAEL (1924): CARL THEODOR DREYER’S INIC GAY SILENT FILM, STARRG WALTER SLEZAK
• SILENT FILMS, RATED BY GAYNS
• HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST GAY MARRIAGE

MICHAEL (1924): CARL THEODOR DREYER’S INIC GAY SILENT FILM, STARRG WALTER SLEZAK

Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer ma Michael (aka Mikaël, Chaed: The Story of the Third Sex, and Heart’s Dire), an inic German gay silent drama, which, s later, still is strikg visually and emotnally.

The homosexual elements proved disturbg, too, as “Michael was one of the few big-budget mastream stud productns om the silent perd that alt wh homosexualy; although remas implic, was readily apparent to many ntemporari. The followg year, censors banned “Different From the Others” throughout Germany, claimg that the film uld endanger public safety or turn imprsnable youths gay. ”Although German versns of the footage have been released on vio over the years, this rtoratn — unr the spic of the Outft-UCLA Legacy Project, which is dited to prervg movg imag wh gay, lbian, bisexual or transgenr them — will be the most plete to date, wh new English tertl and the cln of recently found photos and film stills.

SILENT FILMS, RATED BY GAYNS

Through flashbacks, we learn that Korner was expelled om school for fallg love wh a male stunt, and that he once tried to “cure” his homosexualy wh the help of a medil hypnotist. Sivers, his grievg lover, dit his life to fightg Paragraph 175, a German statute that ma homosexual acts a Krist Pepe, director of programmg at Outft, one of the untry’s largt gay film ftivals, “Different From the Others” was a revelatn.

Those imag will be ed to renstct a lecture scene which Hirschfeld talks about how some, but not all, gay men are feme (he shows relevant photos) and rails agast the persecutn of homosexuals throughout history. Banned 1920, only a agment surviv of Different om the Others (1919), an "Enlightenment Film" promotg tolerance of homosexualiy, wh a fe st head up by the great Conrad Veidt. He has been llectg news clippgs on homosexual suicis triggered by Paragraph 175, a German law crimalizg homosexualy, & which the nazis ma good e of a uple s later.

He ponrs the nam of great men history who were gay, & builds his own self-teem sufficiently to meet wh & beg a relatnship wh a very young man, Kurt (Frz Schulz), who is voted to classil mic & uld benef by a mentor. Franz is himself gay but neverthels feels no qualms threateng other gay men to obta sh, the notor Paragraph 175 makg very easy to threaten homosexuals wh imprisonment or Korner's se, at the very least, the loss of his reer as a ncert vlist. For an "enlightenment" film this wasn't all that enlightened, & dangeroly close to a plea for tolerance of perasty rather than homosexualy between nsentg adults.

HOLLYWOOD’S FIRST GAY MARRIAGE

Although only a few overtly gay films are known to survive om the silent era, the world-wi history of homosexualy the cema do beg wh the silent era, & is que extensive on one or another level. Fotten silent film players clu Ray Bourbon who was a stunt double & drag performer films of the early 1920s, & who afterward performed as a drag edian a travellg gay actg troupe. In Lrel & Hardy's The Soilers (1923) set the Alaska gold sh, we see a prissy wboy mcg about the stage (see also Lrel & Hardy's Gay Cema for their broar cultural ntributns).

One n't help but spect that this beg a film directed & produced by a woman, Alice Guy, had somethg to do wh s surprisg gree of liberal acceptance of homosexualy, the flamg stereotype of Algie's character notwhstandg.

In one of the earlit exampl of extreme hatred for homosexuals on the screen, when Charlie's ceptn is revealed, a fistfight ensu, & the men who'd urted him allow him to drown a well. Pabst's Diary of a Lost Girl (Das Tagebuch eer Verlorene, 1929) rporat gay imagery, cludg reform school girls bed together, & harlots dancg wh one another, bis havg Louise Brooks experience a "pile up" of girls.