Wonderland Burlesque's Let's Go To The Movies: All That Is Gay Edition- Part 5 of 6

Wonderland Burlesque's

Let's Go To The Movies

All That Is Gay Edition- Part 5 of 6

As explained previously, last month was Gay Pride Month - and I had planned to do these posts to honor that celebration. However, due to timing, and the previous series of posts running long, I'm not getting to these until now. Oh, well... it's not like gay pride is only for one month. No, it's a lifelong thing. So, let's keep celebrating!

Once again, we find Hollywood going all gay a little south of the border or in the wild, wild west. Yes, most of these films are gay in name only, but... there are exceptions!

Let's take a look...

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The Gay Defender

(1927)

(The son of  a Spanish land baron in California falls in love with the daughter of a United States land commissioner. A struggle over gold ensues between the land baron's son and a pair of thieving brothers, culminating in a deadlocked duel. When the son seeks permission to wed, the land commissioner is found dead - shot with the land baron's son's own gun! Framed for the murder, the son escapes and goes on the run. Now a fugitive, and with his father's fortunes reversed, the son becomes a defender of the people, seeking justice for the many wrongs done by the thieving brothers.)

(This silent drama was directed by Gregory La Cava and stars Richard Dix, Thelma Todd, Fred Kohler, Jerry Mandy, Robert Brower, Harry Holden, and Fred Esmelton. It was released on December 10, 1927, by Paramount Pictures.)

(No copies of this film are known to exist. It is among the hundreds upon hundreds of silent movies that are considered 'lost'.)

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In Gay Madrid

(1930)

(Born and raised in Madrid, a young law student lives a the life of a carefree playboy who spends his nights dancing in clubs and chasing beautiful women. In an effort to instill a sense of moral propriety, his father transfer the wayward student to a school in the rural town of Santiago. There, he will be looked over by an old friend of  his father's who has a lovely daughter which the son immediately begins to serenade and court. He also joins a fraternity in order to continue his wild ways. However, when a former girlfriend arrives to visit, all seems undone.)

(This pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical comedy was directed by Robert Z. Leonard and stars the dashing Ramón Novarro and Dorothy Jordan.)

(Some cite this film as the beginning of the end for Ramon Novarro's film career. Hollywood and audiences had grown tired of Latin Lovers and with new stars like Robert Montgomery and Clark Gable on the rise, male masculinity would become vogue while gender ambiguity, as represented by Novarro, Billy Haines and Nils Asther, would no longer be in fashion. It would also be viewed as 'dangerous' by the Studio front offices. Sadly, with the release of this film, Novarro would see the quality of films he was offered and his fortunes diminish.)

(The working title for this film was The House of Troy. Filming began on November 14, 1929 and concluded on December 21 that same year with some retakes being directed by and uncredited Robert Ober in January of 1930.)

(The first Latin American actor to succeed in Hollywood, Novarro was promoted by MGM as a Latin Lover and became known as a sex symbol after the death of Rudolph Valentino. All his life, Novarro was conflicted between his Roman Catholic beliefs and his homosexuality leading to an on-going struggle with alcoholism. In the early 1920's Novarro had a romantic relationship with composer Harry Partch, who was working as an usher at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but Novarro broke off that affair once he achieved greater success as an actor. He was then involved with his publicist, Hollywood journalist Herbert Howe and Noël Sullivan, a wealthy man from San Francisco. Novarro was tortured and murdered on October 30, 1968, by brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, aged 22 and 17, who called him and offered their sexual services. In the past, Novarro had hired prostitutes from an agency to come to his Laurel Canyon home for sex. The brothers believed there was a large sum of money hidden in the house. They left with $20 they found in Novarro's bathrobe. The two were caught, tried and convicted of the crime.)

For more information and images of Novarro, please visit fellow blogger, DeliciousDeity, who is a bit of an expert on the subject. Simply put 'Novarro' in the search field on the site to read and see his many postings dedicated to this intoxicating man.

Dorothy Jordan and Ramon Novarro

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The Gay Buckaroo

(1931)

(A successful local horse rancher is in love with the daughter of a gold miner who has struck it rich and bought a large cattle ranch. However, the miner really has no interest in being a rancher, so he leaves the day-to-day work in the hands of a lazy foreman and his haphazard crew. The daughter has also inherited her father's taste for the extravagant and has her eyes, much to the chagrin of our local rancher, on an over-the-top silent film star who now runs a local saloon. On the advice of his faithful sidekick, our local rancher decides to become a 'gay buckaroo'. Horse thievery, some missing money and a bit of double-crossing find the two suiters going head to head. But, eventually, our local rancher recovers the missing money and buys himself a smart new wardrobe in the hopes of capturing the miner's daughter's heart. His new clothes also come with a faster lifestyle and soon he finds himself gambling with his sweetheart's father and his mortal enemy. When fate hands him a winning hand, the gold miner loses his ranch to the young rancher, who immediately fires the existing ranch hands and puts the miner, now penniless, and his daughter to work. The silent film star mistakenly kills someone wearing the local rancher's discarded fancy clothes, leading to his undoing while enriching his rival.)

(Released on January 17, 1932, this pre-Code Western was directed by Phil Rosen and stars Hoot Gibson, Merna Kennedy, and Roy D'Arcy.)

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The Gay Desperado

(1936)

(A singer who works in a movie theater providing live entertainment is invited by a music-loving Mexican bandit to join his band. What the singer doesn't realize is that the Mexican bandit idolizes the characters found in American gangster films and has a habit of kidnapping people in order emulate his cinema heroes.)

(Produced by Mary Pickford, and released by United Artists, this comedy was directed by Rouben Mamoulian and stars Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, and Nino Martini.)

(In 2006, the film was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the Mary Pickford Foundation, and then released on DVD after being out of distribution for many years.)

(Only in Hollywood - although playing a Mexican, Nino Martini was actually born in Italy. )

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The Gay Amigo

(1949)

(Cisco and Pancho, mistaken for part of a crew of Mexican bandits are captured by a lawman, who lets them go, believing they will lead him to the rest of the gang. And when Cisco learns that the editor of the local paper and the blacksmith are gang's leaders, the duo inadvertently does exactly that - but not before Cisco convinces the blacksmith his partner in crime is double-crossing him. The blacksmith then joins Cisco and Pancho, who lure the entire gang of thieves into a trap.)

 

(One film in a series of Cisco Kid B-movies, this Western film was directed by Wallace Fox and stars Duncan Renaldo as The Cisco Kid and Leo Carrillo as Pancho.)

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And that's all for now.

Tune in next week...

Same time, same channel.

Into My Heart - Ramon Novarro

from the 1930 motion picture In Gay Madrid