The Celluloid Closet provides usefeul information about the presence of gay/lesbian imagery in film as a reference guide. What I find most useful is the discussion of what did not make it to the screen. Russo discusses scenes, such as that between Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier in Spartacus, which were removed before release. These scenes may not have impacted society as much as final scenes, but they are important when conidering the internal politics that shaped Hollywood. Russo is careful to acknowledge both the negative and positive aspects of visability, and to distinguish between visability and comic stereotyping. Probably more useful as a reference book than an enjoyable read, this book is packed with useful information from which people can start their own research/opinion making

Russo, now deceased, published the first edition of this book in 1981, in the dark ages before queer independent cinema, and before mainstream cinema began the tradition of giving every female lead a gay man for a best buddy -- back when gay men appeared only as swishy queens or psychotic killers, and lesbians appeared only as psychotic killers, period. He exhumed hundreds of long-forgotten films, from moody German expressionism through the fluffy bedroom farces of the 1950's, and created an invaluable survey of the way movies look at gay people, comparable in scope to Donald Bogle's survey of African-Americans in film, "Toms, Coons, Mulattos, Mammies, and Bucks." We desperately need an update, but for everything from Laurel and Hardy shorts to "Personal Best," this is the place to go.

For me, this book answered many questions about why people, both gay and straight, have certain attitudes about homosexuality. The portrayal of gays in popular entertainment plays a gigantic role in how gay people are perceived, and this book gives many great examples of that.

It also points the way to plenty of interesting movies that deal, in one level or another, with the subject. It would never have occurred to me to rent "Victim" (the 1961 movie) or "Suddenly Last Summer" if it weren't for this book. (What can I say--I'm provincial.)

The newer addition includes some of the changes in the 80s. I wish that Vito Russo were still alive. The topic of gays in the movies is one that's still moving forward and backward at the same time, and it would be interesting to read his take on movies like "Beautiful Thing," and "Boys Don't Cry" as well as "To Wong Foo" and "Braveheart."