Wonderland Burlesque's Let's All Go To The Movies - Say Gay Edition, Part V: Girls Will Be Boys

Wonderland Burlesque's 

Let's All Go To The Movies 

Say Gay Edition, Part V

Girls Will Be Boys

Back in the day, Shakespeare had men playing women playing men. So there is a long, rich tradition of flirting with such subterfuge. Today? We're taking a look at film classics where women play men.

The various complex psychosexual aspects these films touch upon frequently served as a wake up call, putting mankind on notice and asking society to take a look at their biases and beliefs when it came to matters of sexual politics and supposed sexual norms. Society wasn't always up to the challenge, but that didn't mean the silver screen abandoned the concept. Time helps people's minds to evolve and future generations quickly developed a much more sophisticated palate. 

Let's take a look at this select historic timeline of films touching on this somewhat unconventional theme.

She Goes To War

(1929)

(She Goes to War is a 1929 silent film directed by Henry King and starring Eleanor Boardman as a women who disguises herself as man to fight in WWI.)

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Queen Christina

(This was Garbo's fourth and final film opposite John Gilbert. A biographical telling of the famed  Swedish Queen, who, in order to escape the pressures of the throne, conceals her identity dressed as a man. It is in this guise she meets the man of her dreams, a Roman Catholic Spanish envoy played by John Gilbert. The innkeeper, believing Garbo to be a man, asks if its alright if Gilbert's character shares her bed, for there are no more rooms to be had. The two extend their tryst after becoming snowed in at the inn. Later, the two meet again under the most uncomfortable of circumstances - the kind of big reveal Hollywood reveres.) 

(Laurence Olivier was originally cast in the John Gilbert role, but was fired during rehearsals. Gilbert was cast as requested by Garbo, much to the chagrin of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer, who despised the actor. Queen Christina marked the end of an 18 month film hiatus for Garbo. And while the reviews were relatively positive, it would take years for the film, which did not do well at the box office, to recover its costs.) 

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Viktor und Viktoria 

(1933)

(Viktor und Viktoria is the one that started it all. This 1933 German musical comedy directed by Reinhold Schünzel starred Renate Müller as a woman masquerading as a female impersonator. At the same time Schünzel was working on the German version, he shot a French-language version titled Georges et Georgette starring Meg Lemonnier with an all-French cast. It was co-directed by Roger Le Bon.)

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Georges et Georgette

(1934)

(This is the aforementioned French version, directed by Roger Le Bon and Reinhold Schünzel and starring Julien Carette, Meg Lemonnier and Anton Walbrook.)

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First A Girl

(1935)

"Lavishly presented with music! spectacle! and glamour!"

(First a Girl is a 1935 British comedy adapted from the 1933 German film Viktor und Viktoria. It served as the basis for the 1982 American musical comedy Victor/Victoria directed by Blake Edwards.)

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Sylvia Scarlett

(1935)

(Infamous for being one of the most unsuccessful movies of the 1930's, Hepburn plays the title role, a female con artist masquerading as a boy in order to escape the police. Directed by George Cukor, it is the first of four films Hepburn would do opposite Cary Grant. The film tested so poorly with audiences that both Cukor and Hepburn begged to have the film shelved, promising, if that was done, they would do their next films for the studio for free. After its release, Hepburn was dubbed box office poison.) 

(The sexual politics presented and examined in the film were simply too ahead of its time. Hepburn's character remains in male drag long after there is any need for her to do so. This results in all sorts of misunderstandings, situations and shenanigans, but the resulting sexual ambiguity proved too sophisticated for the average theatregoer in 1935.)

(The film depicts both male and female characters being sexually attracted to Hepburn in male drag. Hepburn even kisses a woman. Today, it is considered one of the few Golden Age films to treat queerness respectfully, preserving Hepburn's Sapphic legacy in film.) 

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Yiddle With His Fiddle

(1936)

"Molly Picon in her first all talkie Yiddish musical comedy sensation."

(This 1936 Yiddish musical was filmed on location, in Poland for $50K. It features an all-Polish cast, save its star, Molly Picon, who demanded an astounding (for a Yiddish theatrical) $10K. Even before the film had premiered in the US, it had recovered all it expenses and went on to become a runaway worldwide success.) 

(Picon began her English language career in 1940. She is best remembered as The Matchmaker in the 1971 film version of Fiddler On The Roof and a reoccurring role on the popular television show, Car 54, Where Are You?)

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The Wicked Lady

(1945)

"Mason meets his match!"

(This British costume drama stars Margaret Lockwood as the bored wife of a nobleman who becomes a highway man for kicks and giggles . What begins as a means of stealing back her own jewels quickly becomes a habit and she joins forces with another highwayman, a swarthy James Mason. Fraught with intrigue, forbidden love and danger, the film turned out to be quite popular. Lockwood was quite fond of the film, that is until, due to the amount of cleavage shown, a year later the entire cast had to reconvene for reshoots so it could pass muster with the US censors.) 

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Viktor + Viktoria

(1957)

(A 1957 German musical comedy, a remake of Viktor und Viktoria.)

Homicidal

(1952)

"Special 'fright break.' There will be a special fright break during the showing of Homicidal. All those too timid to take the climax will be welcomed to the coward's corner!"

"The story of a psychotic killer!"

(Perhaps my favorite film on this list. William Castle was an amazing showman who never met a gimmick he couldn't work until coins filled his pockets. This one must be seen to be believed. That Jean Arless, AKA Joan Marshall, didn't go on to become a huge star is one of the truly cruel jokes of Hollywood. In a performance that is as fantastical as it is ridiculous, the lady holds the screen all on her own. A cashmere sweater and a coned bra never looked better. And that Marlo Thomas blonde flip of hers? To die for.)

 

"The picture with a fright break!"

"Your shocked eyes will see it... your mind won't believe it!"

(Marshall/Arless did an interesting thing to land the twin roll of Emily/Warren, which Castle had planned on casting using two separate actors. She auditioned for Emily as herself. Then, under a different name, returned, disguised as a man, to audition for the part of Warren. Castle was blown away. She got both parts. )

(While most critics were unkind, calling it a cheap rip-off of the previous year's Psycho, Time Magazine loved it, not only giving it a glowing review, but naming it as one of their Top Ten films of the year.)

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Myra Breckinridge

"Is all women... or something!"

(So, I realize this one doesn't quite fit the mold, but grant me this one, okay?) 

(Based on the 1968 novel by Gore Vidal, Myra Breckinridge featured an all-star cast, including Raquel Welch, John Huston, Mae West, Farrah Fawcett, Rex Reed, Jim Backus, Roger C. Carmel, and John Carradine. Tom Selleck makes his screen debut as one of West's sex toys and choreographer Toni Basil appears as a cigarette girl. West's costumes were designed by the legendary Edith Head.)

(Sexually aggressive - it features a female on male rape - the film follows the exploits of a transgender woman, played by Welch, who claims to be her own widow. Welch plays Myra, while Rex Reed plays Myron.)

(The director, Sarne, who had only directed one other film before this, encouraged his cast to bicker with each other. Welch and West needed no encouragement; they hated each other. A then unknown Farrah Fawcett recalls hiding in her dressing room in tears because the two stars would take out their anger on her. West was told to write her own dialogue and given permission to sing several songs.) 

(The director also chose to insert clips from various 1930's and 1940's films as punchlines. After an initial screening, there was a flurry of lawsuits demanding these clips be removed. The White House even intervened on behalf of then ambassador Shirley Temple Black, to have a clip from her film Heidi removed. Lorretta Young also successfully sued to have clips from her movies removed.)

(The critics were savage. Time Magazine said, "Myra Breckinridge is about as funny as a child molester. It is an insult to intelligence, an affront to sensibility and an abomination to the eye." To this day, the film is considered one of the worst ever made.  Welch, on the other hand, considers it some of her best work.)

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Lady Oscar

(1979)

"The glamor, the strife, the intrigue of 18th century France!"

(This film is a romantic period drama film, based on the popular manga The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda. Set in 18th century France, Oscar's father, a career military man, wanted a son to succeed him. Rather than let something like the fact that his wife gave birth to a girl get in the way of his ambitions, the man simply raises his daughter as a boy. Oscar is so successful in the military that they are appointed as guard to Marie Antoinette. Film locations included Jossigny, Senlis, and the Palace of Versailles.)

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Victor/Victoria

(1982)

"The disguise surprise comedy of the year."

(An American remake of the British remake of the German original? Or, simply a remake of the German original? I've read both. The film had been in the works since 1978. Peter Sellers was set to play the pivotal role of Toby, but died while Andrews and Edwards were busy filming 1981's S.O.B. So, Robert Preston was drafted in Sellers' stead.)

"The whole of Paris was talking about her. They only knew half the story."

(Both Andrews and Preston would receive Oscar nominations for their work in the film, as would Lesley Ann Warren, who steals every single scene she's in. The trio were also nominated for Golden Globes, with Andrews winning her category.)

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The Wicked Lady

(1983)

"She's wild. She's wicked. And she really knows how to whip up a good time!"

(A Cannon Films remake of the 1945 film. Cannon had an interesting way of attracting big name stars. For this one? Between them, Dunaway, Bates and Gielgud owned 50% of the film. Cannon paid them each scale and, because they owned a percentage, the stars were all on their best behavior, never causing problems on the set or badmouthing the film in any way... even - gasp - the infamously difficult Faye Dunaway!)

"By day, she was a rich and respected lady... by night, she seduced, murdered and robbed."

(There's a whip fight between Dunaway and another actress so caustic it caused the censors to rate the film X - unless the scene was removed. The director appealed and, with the help of people like author Fay Weldon, the decision was overturned and the film released as is. The soundtrack? By Tony Banks from the group Genesis.)

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Sahara

(1983)

"She challenged the desert, its men, their passion and ignited a bold adventure."

(This 1983 British-American adventure drama features a soundtrack by Ennio Morricone and stars Brooke Shields as a girl who dresses as a man in order to fulfill her dead father's dream of winning a hot rod race through the Sahara desert. A Cannon Film, Shields was paid $1.5 million, with mom, Teri signing on as executive producer for $25K. Mom Teri demanded many rewrites, as she wasn't ready for the world to view her budding sex symbol as a woman. All this turmoil caused two directors to walk off the project. Preview audiences were not keen on the picture, causing it to lose it's Christmas season opening, getting pushed back to February of 1984.)

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Yentl

(1983)

"Nothing's impossible."

"In a time when the world of study belonged only to men, there lived a girl who dared to ask... 'why?'"

(Possibly the most glorious thing Barbara Streisand has ever done. The songs, composed by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, are gorgeous and tailormade for Streisand. Based on Isaac Bashevis Singer's short story Yentl the Yeshiva Boy, and directed by Streisand, the film co-stars Mandy Patinkin and Amy Irving, who both deliver outstanding performances. Beautifully filmed, it is the perfect marriage all the way around - the story, the script, the music, the songs, the acting, Streisand's singing - it is a joy to behold and one the most perfect movies ever made. It's clever and sweet and funny and heartbreaking and mind opening.)

(Streisand acquired the rights to the short story in 1969. It was supposed to be her next film, after Funny Girl. A director and studio was in place and Singer, himself wrote the screenplay, retitled Masquerade. However, Singer, citing Streisand's age and celebrity, got cold feet and pulled out of the project. In 1973, she tried to convince boyfriend John Peters to help get the story filmed, but he told her she was too old and too feminine for the role. After completing A Star Is Born in 1976, Streisand agreed with Peters' assessment and set her sights on directing. But no one wanted to gamble on a first time director. The project was also considered 'not commercial' and 'too ethnic.' In 1978, the Bergman's, who had been writing songs for Streisand for some time, suggested the story be turned into a musical. It was their thought that a studio would be more likely to support a musical starring Streisand. Peters eventually put together a three picture deal with Orion Studios. But then, thanks to Heaven's Gate, the studio had a change of fortune and all films over $10 million were canceled. Peters tried to save the day, forming PolyGram pictures with Neil Bogart, but when things soured between Streisand and Peters, that deal went south, too. Then, fifteen years after she first wanted to do the film, MGM and United Artists merged, placing certain people from her past in a position to greenlight her film.) 

(The film was a huge success and the reviews were generally positive. Singer, however? He saw no merit it in, Who cares? It was a labor of love. When the film went $1.5 million over budget, Streisand gave up her own salary in order to finish the film.) 

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Just One Of The Guys

(1985)

"Terri Griffith is about to go where no woman has gone before."

(This popular comedy about a college student going undercover in order to obtain a journalism internship is a loose adaptation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.)

(And so... all's well that ends well.)

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week...

Same time, same channel.

Le Jazz Hot - Julie Andrews

from Victor Victoria