Philadelphia’s LGBTQ film festival ran from July 5th through 10th.  People You May Know was the opening night film, covered in a previous column. The three films under discussion here were all screened on Friday, July 8th. They are: Reel in the Closet; Women He’s Undressed; and Bear City 3. Two of the films were absolutely fabulous. You should buy, rent, or stream them immediately. By turns joyous, celebratory, informative, and life-enhancing, you owe it to yourself to see Reel in the Closet and Women He’s Undressed.

 



Reel in the Closet (2015), directed by Stu Maddux tells the story of our GLBTQ history through home movies, often relegated to the closet for decades, and to those people who rather than tossing these important parts of our history in the trash, donate them to a number of gay archives in the United States. One such place is the Library of Congress. Mike Mashon, Head of the Moving Image Section of the Library of Congress, was one who spoke eloquently about how important this documentation of our lives is for us and for generations to come. Other people spoke of how they used their video cameras to film Pride Marches in the 1970s since they thought that no network would. Much raw footage never seen on network television was saved by gay reporters, since the video tapes were routinely recorded over and not saved after the edited parts were aired. Reel films marked innocuously, “Sunday party 1947,” might show many men skinny dipping at a gay couple’s home. A treasure of films from the 1930s through 1970s were shown. They were by turns humorous, touching, elegant, and incredible.

Director Stu Maddux had to turn to Kickstarter to raise $15,000, or else this film might have never seen the light of day. All LGBT people should be thankful that it did.

 




Women He’s Undressed (2015), by famed director Gillian Armstrong (director of many films including My Brilliant Career (1979) and my personal favorite, Starstruck (1982), tells the story of Orry-Kelly, famed costume designer who won three academy awards, and dressed such notables as Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, and Marilyn Monroe. The audience registered surprise when Mr. Kelly’s handsome no-talent boyfriend Archie Leach, later became Hollywood star Cary Grant. The only major designer who didn’t marry to appear “normal,” Orry-Kelly had a successful 30-year Hollywood career, producing costumes for over 285 films. Among the classic films he designed were Some Like it Hot, Casablanca, Mame, 42nd Street, and many others. Among the people who spoke about his talents, personal relationships, and their friendship were several nonagenarians, such as Scotty Bowers, and younger stars he took a shine to. One such youngster was Jane Fonda, who spoke about him touchingly. At one point, Jane Fonda said something in praise of Orry- Kelly which made the audience explode with applause. 

 



Bear City 3 continues the franchise of a group of gay men, their lovers, and the situations in which they find themselves. In the company of the previous two films, Bear City 3 suffers by comparison. The film starts by picking up story lines from the previous two films. Anyone not knowing what happened was at a disadvantage until the plots were eventually explained. Kathy Najimy was one of the three featured actresses. She played “grandma,” as she spoke about the incipient birth of two of the featured actors’ baby being born to one of the men’s sister. The sister, who worked at the Woods Campground, a gay sexual Eden, had one scene where she blithely walked through a wooded path while men were having sex all about her, while she delivered condoms, lube, and towels (?) to the camp-goers. Other scenes showed the male characters in constant spats and childishness more characteristic of tween girls than adult men. The third female, a teen who was daughter to one of the gay lovers was about as welcome as the Zika Virus. Her character was so obnoxious as to make her irretrievably unlikeable. The soundtrack of the film was shrill and indistinct at this showing, making it difficult to hear the dialogue.

Bear City 3 had the most attendees, and no doubt appealed to those gay men who like their soap operas peopled by several morbidly obese and cantankerous men and the women (either patronizing, all-knowing, or obnoxious) who love them.