In Staircase Rex Harrison and Richard Burton play a squabbling gay couple. The film was marketed as a "sad gay story." The stage play was a success in London. The film was rejected by critics and audiences. My guests and I take a look to see how it's aged. 

 When a gay teen is outed, he is taken under the wing of the school's queen bees. They're convinced a Gay Best Friend (G.B.F.) will increase their popularity. My guest and I take a closer look. at George Northy's screenplay.

We discuss The War Widow , one of the first lesbian films to feature a happy ending. It premiered on PBS on October 28, 1976 as part of the Visions series of original teleplays. In 2021 it was restored for the UCLA Film & Television Archive. 

A reporter investigates the disappearance of a famous glam rocker. Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine explores a movement that allowed artists to hide their queerness in plain sight.

 A teenager falls for a predatory teacher at her French finishing school. Olivia is based on the novel by Dorothy Strachey. It presents same sex attraction without judgement. But the illicit relationship made it an uncomfortable watch for my guests. 

Coming Out aired in 1979 as part of the BBC’s Play for Today series.  A closeted writer and his friends debate whether the LGBT+ community should assimilate or rebel. The discussion still resonates today.

Rainbow Colored Glasses starts season four with a look at Paul Oremland’s 1998 film Like It Is. A boxer from Blackpool falls for a music promoter from London. The promoter’s snobby friends try to break them up. I enjoyed this film. My guest did not.

Harry Styles recently starred in My Policeman. A film about a man juggling relationships with a woman and another man. This inspired me to revisit John Schlesinger’s classic Sunday Bloody Sunday. One of my guests was seeing it for the first time. The other saw it when it premiered in 1971.

We discuss a short film with a long title: It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives. Activist Rosa von Praunheim read Berlin’s gay community for filth. His political manifesto remains timely.  

This episode includes explicit language.

 An author investigates the death of a young woman. Hasse Ekman's Girl with Hyacinths has been affectionately called "The Lesbian Citizen Kane."