Reviews (2)

Inside History's Closet
Originally produced for PBS television, the Emmy-winning "Before Stonewall" is a must-see documentary for anyone researching Gay American history. What makes this film so invaluable is its success in recreating - through photographs, film clips, and later-day interviews - a period in time that was carefully and deliberately NOT recorded as it was happening due to the pervasive institution of "the closet", and the very real dangers that faced those brave enough to crack open the door and step out into the light. As one courageous lesbian pioneer remembers, just being accused of being a gay woman was grounds for involuntary commitment to a mental institution during her youth. Small wonder, then, that there is such a paucity of material documenting the gay movement pre-Stonewall, especially during the years from 1900-1950, before the earliest Gay and Lesbian social and political institutions in the United States were founded.

The cornerstone of this remarkable film is the handful of interviews conducted with some elderly activists from the years before the Stonewall riots began on June 27, 1969. With humor, dignity, and matter-of-fact courage, these men and women tell personal stories about their experiences in the armed forces, in the halls of government, in society, and in their home lives during the years in which America at large experienced the roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the beginning of the Baby Boom era, and the radical Sixties. Their recollections are not only fascinating and brilliantly told; they are of critical importance in understanding the true heritage and history of today's American gay community. The DVD edition offers some fascinating extra material, including some expanded interviews, and footage of poet Allen Ginsberg reading two of his early compositions. Very highly recommended in terms of both quality and content.

Goodwill can only do so much.
'Before Stonewall' was not just a celebratory film documenting the underground gay resistance to [...] America before the historic moment of Stonewall in 1969. As the frightening utterances of then-President Reagan reveal, this was very much an urgent political gesture, a protest against 80s conservative retrenchment.

This is an illuminating and endearing documentary, full of wonderful anecdotes (e.g. Eisenhower's failure to sack the lesbian element of the WAC because it was all lesbian!), a moving reunion of elderly patrons of a notorious gay bar, and an inspiringly un-bitter outlook. The talking-heads-with-stills formalt becomes monotonous, and self-congratulation sometimes creeps in. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Before Stonewall is a documentary about evolution, namely the evolution of gay culture in the U.S. from the early 1920s to the Stonewall riot of 1969. Embellished with archival footage and photography from five decades, the film most prominently features the gay underground of the '20s and '30s, the rise of gay service in the military and workforce during WWII, the persecution of gays as "subversives" and "sexual perverts" in the state department by Senator McCarthy, the growth of the first grassroots political organizations for gay men and lesbians in the '50s, and of course, the civil rights movement. Commentary is provided by the gay men and lesbians who came of age in the years leading up to Stonewall.

Overall, Before Stonewall does an admirable job of illustrating the rise of American gay culture and pinpointing the various social and political issues that were most instrumental. Perhaps the film's only weakness lies in the vast ground it tries to cover in such a short amount of time, leaving certain themes without much in-depth coverage.However, as a snapshot of the years leading up to Stonewall, it succeeds remarkably well.--Katy Ankenman ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Inside History's Closet
Originally produced for PBS television, the Emmy-winning "Before Stonewall" is a must-see documentary for anyone researching Gay American history. What makes this film so invaluable is its success in recreating - through photographs, film clips, and later-day interviews - a period in time that was carefully and deliberately NOT recorded as it was happening due to the pervasive institution of "the closet", and the very real dangers that faced those brave enough to crack open the door and step out into the light. As one courageous lesbian pioneer remembers, just being accused of being a gay woman was grounds for involuntary commitment to a mental institution during her youth. Small wonder, then, that there is such a paucity of material documenting the gay movement pre-Stonewall, especially during the years from 1900-1950, before the earliest Gay and Lesbian social and political institutions in the United States were founded.

The cornerstone of this remarkable film is the handful of interviews conducted with some elderly activists from the years before the Stonewall riots began on June 27, 1969. With humor, dignity, and matter-of-fact courage, these men and women tell personal stories about their experiences in the armed forces, in the halls of government, in society, and in their home lives during the years in which America at large experienced the roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, the Second World War, the beginning of the Baby Boom era, and the radical Sixties. Their recollections are not only fascinating and brilliantly told; they are of critical importance in understanding the true heritage and history of today's American gay community. The DVD edition offers some fascinating extra material, including some expanded interviews, and footage of poet Allen Ginsberg reading two of his early compositions. Very highly recommended in terms of both quality and content.

Goodwill can only do so much.
'Before Stonewall' was not just a celebratory film documenting the underground gay resistance to [...] America before the historic moment of Stonewall in 1969. As the frightening utterances of then-President Reagan reveal, this was very much an urgent political gesture, a protest against 80s conservative retrenchment.

This is an illuminating and endearing documentary, full of wonderful anecdotes (e.g. Eisenhower's failure to sack the lesbian element of the WAC because it was all lesbian!), a moving reunion of elderly patrons of a notorious gay bar, and an inspiringly un-bitter outlook. The talking-heads-with-stills formalt becomes monotonous, and self-congratulation sometimes creeps in. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Superb! Brings women artists and their era to life
Greta Schiller's award-winning documentary Paris Was A Woman (1995) explores the extraordinary women, many of whom were lesbian or bisexual, in the Left Bank's thriving cultural scene between the wars. Through Schiller's exceptional filmmaking, and Andrea Weiss's brilliant research and screenwriting, we come to know the living, complex women who so often stand only as cultural icons: novelists Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, Colette, Natalie Barney, painter Marie Laurencin, photographer Gisele Freund, publishers/booksellers Sylvia Beach and Adrienne Monnier, New Yorker journalist Janet Flanner, singer Josephine Baker, and many others. Schiller also looks at their connection to the male artists of the time, including Picasso (whom Stein discovered and promoted), Joyce (who drove Beach to bankruptcy when she published his then-illegally obscene masterpiece, Ulysses), and Hemingway (who began as Stein and Toklas's errand boy; we see - and hear - his stylistic debt to Stein).

In a mere 75 minutes, with a spellbinding use of archival photos and film footage, Schiller manages to recreate the mood and flavor of this unique community of women who came to The City of Lights (and Love) from the U.S., England, and every corner of the world. This inspired, and moving, film brings to life their passion both for the arts and for a freedom in their personal lives which still resonates today.

We also get to know the less well-known, but no less fascinating, women of this enclave, who gravitated to the famously different salons of Stein (witty and cerebral) and Barney (wild and sensual). The film draws on groundbreaking research, newly-discovered home movies (there is nothing like actually seeing and hearing Gertrude Stein, both in her public and private personas), and intimate storytelling that combines interviews with the people who lived then (Barney's spry housekeeper of 40 years, Berthe Cleyrerque, is unforgettable, as is Janet Flanner) with contemporary scholars (whose brief remarks, sprinkled throughout the film, are illuminating rather than pedantic). Time and again, Schiller and Weiss manage to find exactly the right photos, footage, and sound clips to reveal these women in their complexity as flesh and blood people who in some cases - such as Stein - shaped the course of modern culture.

Paris Was A Woman is not only superb history, it is also inspired filmmaking. Schiller, who edited as well as directed and co-produced, uses the energy of narrative flow, balancing of viewpoints, juxtaposition of the intellectual and revealingly anecdotal, structural use of period music, and delicious humor to bring alive this world in cinematic, and human, terms.

The DVD, from Zeitgeist, includes many excellent supplemental features, including the complete home movies which were excerpted in the film plus additional footage (of Stein, Toklas, Colette, Picasso, Thornton Wilder, poet Paul Valery, and more), two entire sequences cut from the film (one on Stein and Joyce, the other on Hemingway, Stein & Toklas), and dozens of archival photographs (depicting the lives of the women - one memorable split photo shows Colette dressed as a man on one half and as a woman on the other, as well as their paintings, Djuna Barnes's own hand-colored drawings from her 1928 book The Ladies Almanack - which satirized her fellow lesbian literati, and much more).

I highly recommend this exceptional film!

Good subject matter, nice photography
There is nothing like viewing a well written book "Live!" Even tho a lot of photos were taken in the 1930s, it really shows the alternative life-style that women had in Paris. Seeing Gertrude Stein and hearing her voice, along with many others was quite an experience. I personally knew Samuel Steward (a.k.a. Phil Sparrow), college prof. turned tattoo artist. His part in the video was small, but very informative. He lived in Paris for a while and was a good friend of Alice B. Toklas and Stein until they died. His book "Dear Sammy" is a joy to read. Phil kept this part of his life underground until several years before his death.

I was shocked to learn that Sylvia Beach had published James Joyce's ULYSSES at her own expense, and Joyce didn't pay her one dime when he received a very large royality from a major publisher a few years later.

A darn good video to watch, and does give one the urge to "Move to Paris."

Excellent glimpse into the lives of REMARKABLE WOMEN!
Andrea Weiss wrote "Paris Was A Woman" which contains so much more than any video could hope to include... but the film is an excellent glimpse and overview of extraordinary American women, who relocated to the left bank of Paris in the 1920's. They stayed during the war and amidst the bombings, from their sisterhood, arose some of the best classical literature known today. See Radcliffe Hall, Djuna Woods, Natalie Clifford Barney (my favorite), Collette (35+ years before "Gigi" hit broadway), Dolly Madison, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Tolkas as well as James Joyce, Ernest Hemmingway and Pablo Picasso... and their loves, struggles and glorious triumphs. This film (and book)is moving, highly informative and amusing, too. So many heroines and talented artists and writers in one cultural place during one turbulent decade! I, absolutely, had to own the book! A definite must see and must read! ... Read more

Description

This video profiles Maxine Sullivan (1911-1987), the legendary jazz singer who rose from humble origins in Pittsburgh to become one of the foremost black vocalists in America.Noted for her swing arrangements of classic ballads, she became known as “The Loch Lomond Girl” after her first big hit in 1937.Sullivan’s reminiscences are highlighted by a wealth of news clippings, photos, Hollywood musical clips, archival footage and testimonials from other jazz luminaries such as Ella Fitzgerald and Marian McPartland. ... Read more