Out at the Movies: A History of Gay Cinema Paperback – June 1, 2016

A very detailed and inclusive book on queer cinema. There were a lot of films mentioned that I was surprised made the cut, since I was expecting them to latch mainly onto the big name ones. I was disappointed, however, to find that no Xavier Dolan films were mentioned, since he's one of my favorite directors and makes amazing films, many of which are queer films. Overall, however, it's a nice roundup of some good films to watch and rewatch.

This book gives a great in-depth look at gay cinema and how far the movie industry has come all these years. It also gives you insight on the stars, background of the actors and in general, full info on the movies of the period. Highly recommend this book to all movie buffs.

It's an ambitious undertaking ... trying to compile a cohesive "history" of GLBT-themed films through the past 60+ years. Unfortunately, I think the effort falls far short of what it could have been.Davies puts together a pricey 204 page softcover book that seems to have only slightly more detail about many films than I have seen in DVD catalogues. The films are arranged chronologically by decade, and he starts off each section with a rather fluffy "This was the time when..." introduction that does little but try to work in the titles of as many films as he can, only about 25% of which are actually spotlighted in any detail, individually in the section that follows the introduction. The latter listings provide very little content that you would not find on the back of a DVD box or studio's publicity sheet about the film, and are followed by a couple of fluff pieces about a couple of stars or filmmakers of the time. There's also a section listing Oscar nominations and wins of some GLBT films that had such recognition. If this book were an accident, there would be a police officer saying "Move along, nothing to see here." And he'd be right.Davies mentions probably over 250 films, but spotlights (including some for only a paragraph or two) 64 of that number, slighting titles that many readers would consider more important or relevant than the ones chosen. It is therefore less a "history" of gay cinema than a "selected commentaries" on some titles that make up that history, and the reader can feel appropriately shortchanged. Numerous good-quality (but most small) pictures, often the same ones you'd see on DVD boxes. Probably a viable gift idea for a real hardcore gay film fanatic, but there are other, more focused yet comprehensive books on the subject out there. I'd give this just two stars out of five.

It has been a very exciting thing to watch the tremendous continuing expansion of LGBT cinema. Rather than illuminating that growth, I have to say that Steven Paul Davies's ambitiously entitled book does nothing more than attempt to capitalize on the phenomenon. For the most part it reads like an updated Cliff's Notes version of Vito Russo's groundbreaking overview of homosexuality in the movies, The Celluloid Closet or a cheap rip-off of Ray Murray's excellent encyclopedia of queer cinema, Images In The Dark. If you want a great LGBT film book -- get one of those.Honestly, the majority of Out At The Movies: A History of Gay Cinema reads like a sophomore thesis. It consists primarily of lengthy plot descriptions and re-heated platitudes on how gay images have evolved over the years. Substantial amounts of this text read like over-enthusiastic marketing copy straight from the back of a video box.I might add that the book's nominal inclusion of lesbian films convey a stunning ignorance of lesbian film history (the book somehow, amazingly, manages to have no mention at all of Desert Hearts -- the single most successful and popular lesbian film of all time).As a film critic, I frequently refrain from writing reviews of works that I don't like. I prefer to champion things I enjoy, rather than trash the things I don't. All of which to say, rarely do I feel compelled to write a negative review. This is an extremely disappointing book. If you're looking for a real "History of Gay Cinema" -- look elsewhere.I would also strongly recommend Alonso Duralde's 101 Must See Movies for Gay Men as an alternative to this book. Alonso is a terrifically entertaining and thoughtful writer with smart opinions and genuine perspectives on, well, more than 100 movies that you really must see!

I have two big problems with this book it feels too personal to be an objective concise summary of hollywood queer movies but it feels not personal enough for me to really get a sense of the writer's tastes. I feel like this would have worked better as either a series of personal essays from the author as a critic or a more comprehensive but less analytical history of queer cinema. The Book we are left with doesn't really go into any of the movies enough for me to really get my teeth into the analysis but it doesn't really cover enough movies for it to be comprehensive either.It's also not so much a look at lgbt cinema (mostly gay and a bit less lesbian) for example it calls Boys don't cry a lesbian movie which it isn't its a movie about a trans man. (In an older book I would have let this go but I read the 2016 edition where Carol is added, if the editors can add a new film they can certainly fix an error that misgenders a trans character in a supposedly inclusive lgbt friendly book).

This is a decent and informative guide to the history of gay cinema. I found it particularly useful for bringing to my attention a host of films I have never seen or known to exist. I can now go and look for them on DVD.However I would not give this book a full mark for 2 reasons:First of all it pays too much attention to the Oscars, which in my view is a very overrated award not to mention highly flawed. You only have to look at some of the dubious choices picked by the academy as `best picture' in the last 5 or 10 years to see that. Secondly the authors take a rather dim view of light hearted gay comedies and also of films with a happy ending. This is slightly odd as the book spends a good deal of its earlier chapters rightly complaining about the fact that films from the pre 1960s era always portrayed gay characters as victims, with the gay character almost always dying at the end. Then in later chapters the guide keeps referring to films with a happy ending as predictable.As someone who loves a happy, upbeat and optimistic end to a story I found myself disagreeing with many of the authors views.Gay cinema has come a long way in the last 30 years and all genres of films should be celebrated rather than derided.

It's an important view over the movies we see. A must read book indeed. And actually open our eyes for several things in Hollywood and world wime movies.