Knight at the Movies - Archives
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Marlon T. Rigg's searing queer doc is on DVD at last and so are a lot more movies from gay screen queens Joan and Bette
“We are the lowest among the low. No one will save you but you.” Almost 20 years after this insightful assessment of the position
of gay black men in society was spoken in Marlon T. Riggs’ controversial 1989 documentary Tongues Untied the film is at last
coming to DVD. “Documentary” is a puny word, however, to describe Riggs’ powerful movie. It’s a potent combination of poetry and
theatre, part history lesson, part polemic, and a call to arms for black gay men. In 55 short minutes Riggs exposes so many inbred
cultural stereotypes it’s like an explosion. Yet the anger of the film, an outraged, fed up cry against racism and homophobia, a
double whammy for gay black men (then and now) is suffused with Riggs’ lyrical poetry of words, images, and sounds and it’s also
sultry and erotic – deeply so.
To the poetic words of Riggs, Essex Hemphill and others who often address the camera, the film presents a series of vignettes that
speak directly to the gay black man’s experience: a man refused entry to a gay bar because of his color, a college student left for
dead after a vicious gay bashing, a drag queen, proud and lonely walking the streets in full glory (set to the music of Billie Holiday
and Nina Simone), the devastation of AIDS, and the overwhelming homophobia black gays experience from their fellow African-
Americans (clips from Eddie Murphy’s concert movies are vivid examples of this). Much of the film is set, literally, to a thumping
heartbeat – an aural reminder that the viewer is immersed in a vital, breathing subculture that thrives no matter how much the rest
of the world tries to deny it.
To affirm that Riggs also presents joyful stories and images – we see black men at protest marches, at ACT-UP protests, offering
voguing demonstrations (featuring Willie Ninja and others from Paris Is Burning), a gaggle of humorous “snap” divas, and an
acapella group unabashedly singing about love for another man. Though the anger is almost always just beneath the surface, these
positive images and stories balance the film. “Silence is my shield. It crushes. Silence is my cloak. It smothers” one of the poets
speaks at one point beautifully describing this innate anger but by the film’s conclusion the balance has shifted and Riggs ends the
film with a message of hope: “Now I speak and now my burden is lightened.” Sadly, Riggs, who died in 1994 of AIDS, didn’t live to
see a world that would embrace groundbreaking gay African-American projects like the indie film Brother to Brother, LOGO’s “Noah’s
Arc” television series (soon to be a motion picture), and even the sassy British comedy Kinky Boots.
Tongues Untied first aired on PBS in July of 1991 on the “P.O.V.” program and it’s not hard to see why it caused such a fuss given the
era’s public debate over arts funding for both queer artistic projects and anything that smacked of “pornography” (though the film
contains brief nudity it’s far from that). Riggs defended his film in print and in an interview that accompanied the program. That’s
included as a special feature on the DVD as are new interviews with filmmaker Isaac Julien, AIDS activist Phill Wilson, rap artist Juba
Kalamka, and cultural critic Herman Gray who discuss the importance of the film. A smattering of deleted scenes are another bonus
feature. From Frameline and Strand Releasing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are back and the battle for dominance between these two long dead movie divas heats up again with
several new DVD releases. In this corner we have the glamorous Crawford who learned to become an actress and in this corner we
have her eternal opponent Davis, who was always an actress and certainly behaved like a star. The films of each, expertly made
products from the Hollywood factory, highlighted their individual strengths, shaped their public personas, continue to show both at
their peak, and remain enormously entertaining with equal parts sincerity and hokum.
Crawford is represented by Warner Home Video’s Joan Crawford Collection Volume 2, a five film set that spans her career
from 1934 to 1953. The films – 1934’s Sadie McKee, 1940’s Strange Cargo, 1941’s A Woman’s Face, 1949’s Flamingo Road, and 1953’s
Torch Song succinctly capture Crawford’s evolution from fresh faced star to Great Actress and the last two films in the set vividly
showcase her tenacity. All are new to DVD and are certainly a welcome addition for any Crawford fan. The actress is also seen this
month in 1947’s Daisy Kenyon (from Fox Home Video), a noir-like movie in which Joan must decide between bad boy Dana
Andrews and goodie two shoes Henry Fonda.
Davis, not to be outdone, will soon be represented by the Bette Davis Collection Volume 3. That's right, it's her THIRD
collection from Warner Home Video. You’d think that by now they’d be scraping the bottom of the barrel but even with six films in
this new set there are still lots more where these came from. The collection, being released in early April, covers an eight year
period from 1938 to 1946. The six films (high falutin’ melodramas all) are The Old Maid, All This and Heaven Too, The Great Lie, In This
Our Life, Watch on the Rhine, and Deception. Though not quite the star vehicles that power the Crawford set, Davis certainly holds her
own in the Great Actress department. A week after this release 20th Century Fox gives us The Bette Davis Centenary
Celebration Collection that features a welcome special edition of 1950’s All About Eve (it contains Davis’ penultimate
performance) along with the so-so Phone Call from a Stranger (new to DVD), minor The Virgin Queen (with co-star Joan Collins and new
to DVD), 1964’s big budget horror mystery Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and one of my favorites, 1965’s The Nanny (also new to DVD)
in which Davis goes after one of her charges with the intention of smothering him with a pillow.
Did Davis have Crawford in mind when she filmed the scene?
of gay black men in society was spoken in Marlon T. Riggs’ controversial 1989 documentary Tongues Untied the film is at last
coming to DVD. “Documentary” is a puny word, however, to describe Riggs’ powerful movie. It’s a potent combination of poetry and
theatre, part history lesson, part polemic, and a call to arms for black gay men. In 55 short minutes Riggs exposes so many inbred
cultural stereotypes it’s like an explosion. Yet the anger of the film, an outraged, fed up cry against racism and homophobia, a
double whammy for gay black men (then and now) is suffused with Riggs’ lyrical poetry of words, images, and sounds and it’s also
sultry and erotic – deeply so.
To the poetic words of Riggs, Essex Hemphill and others who often address the camera, the film presents a series of vignettes that
speak directly to the gay black man’s experience: a man refused entry to a gay bar because of his color, a college student left for
dead after a vicious gay bashing, a drag queen, proud and lonely walking the streets in full glory (set to the music of Billie Holiday
and Nina Simone), the devastation of AIDS, and the overwhelming homophobia black gays experience from their fellow African-
Americans (clips from Eddie Murphy’s concert movies are vivid examples of this). Much of the film is set, literally, to a thumping
heartbeat – an aural reminder that the viewer is immersed in a vital, breathing subculture that thrives no matter how much the rest
of the world tries to deny it.
To affirm that Riggs also presents joyful stories and images – we see black men at protest marches, at ACT-UP protests, offering
voguing demonstrations (featuring Willie Ninja and others from Paris Is Burning), a gaggle of humorous “snap” divas, and an
acapella group unabashedly singing about love for another man. Though the anger is almost always just beneath the surface, these
positive images and stories balance the film. “Silence is my shield. It crushes. Silence is my cloak. It smothers” one of the poets
speaks at one point beautifully describing this innate anger but by the film’s conclusion the balance has shifted and Riggs ends the
film with a message of hope: “Now I speak and now my burden is lightened.” Sadly, Riggs, who died in 1994 of AIDS, didn’t live to
see a world that would embrace groundbreaking gay African-American projects like the indie film Brother to Brother, LOGO’s “Noah’s
Arc” television series (soon to be a motion picture), and even the sassy British comedy Kinky Boots.
Tongues Untied first aired on PBS in July of 1991 on the “P.O.V.” program and it’s not hard to see why it caused such a fuss given the
era’s public debate over arts funding for both queer artistic projects and anything that smacked of “pornography” (though the film
contains brief nudity it’s far from that). Riggs defended his film in print and in an interview that accompanied the program. That’s
included as a special feature on the DVD as are new interviews with filmmaker Isaac Julien, AIDS activist Phill Wilson, rap artist Juba
Kalamka, and cultural critic Herman Gray who discuss the importance of the film. A smattering of deleted scenes are another bonus
feature. From Frameline and Strand Releasing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are back and the battle for dominance between these two long dead movie divas heats up again with
several new DVD releases. In this corner we have the glamorous Crawford who learned to become an actress and in this corner we
have her eternal opponent Davis, who was always an actress and certainly behaved like a star. The films of each, expertly made
products from the Hollywood factory, highlighted their individual strengths, shaped their public personas, continue to show both at
their peak, and remain enormously entertaining with equal parts sincerity and hokum.
Crawford is represented by Warner Home Video’s Joan Crawford Collection Volume 2, a five film set that spans her career
from 1934 to 1953. The films – 1934’s Sadie McKee, 1940’s Strange Cargo, 1941’s A Woman’s Face, 1949’s Flamingo Road, and 1953’s
Torch Song succinctly capture Crawford’s evolution from fresh faced star to Great Actress and the last two films in the set vividly
showcase her tenacity. All are new to DVD and are certainly a welcome addition for any Crawford fan. The actress is also seen this
month in 1947’s Daisy Kenyon (from Fox Home Video), a noir-like movie in which Joan must decide between bad boy Dana
Andrews and goodie two shoes Henry Fonda.
Davis, not to be outdone, will soon be represented by the Bette Davis Collection Volume 3. That's right, it's her THIRD
collection from Warner Home Video. You’d think that by now they’d be scraping the bottom of the barrel but even with six films in
this new set there are still lots more where these came from. The collection, being released in early April, covers an eight year
period from 1938 to 1946. The six films (high falutin’ melodramas all) are The Old Maid, All This and Heaven Too, The Great Lie, In This
Our Life, Watch on the Rhine, and Deception. Though not quite the star vehicles that power the Crawford set, Davis certainly holds her
own in the Great Actress department. A week after this release 20th Century Fox gives us The Bette Davis Centenary
Celebration Collection that features a welcome special edition of 1950’s All About Eve (it contains Davis’ penultimate
performance) along with the so-so Phone Call from a Stranger (new to DVD), minor The Virgin Queen (with co-star Joan Collins and new
to DVD), 1964’s big budget horror mystery Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte, and one of my favorites, 1965’s The Nanny (also new to DVD)
in which Davis goes after one of her charges with the intention of smothering him with a pillow.
Did Davis have Crawford in mind when she filmed the scene?
Fire Up the DVD Player:
Tongues Untied DVD-New Joan Crawford-Bette Davis DVD Sets
Expanded Edition of 3-12-08 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
Tongues Untied DVD-New Joan Crawford-Bette Davis DVD Sets
Expanded Edition of 3-12-08 Windy City Times Knight at the Movies Column
By Richard Knight, Jr.
