The Celluloid Closet Author:Vito Russo Triangle Classics: Illuminating the Gay and Lesbian Experience. First published in 1981 and revised in 1987, The Celluloid Closet is Vito Russo's acclaimed history of homosexuals in film. This lively, provocative book documents over 300 movies spanning 80 years, from the films of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel (who camped around ing drag) thr... more »ough such modern art-house favorites as My Beautiful Launderette. Russo documents Hollywoods hesitance to portray lesbians and gay men as anything but one-demensional aliens, and he explores the sexual themes of such films as The Children's Hour, which condemns sexual knowledge as sinful, and Dessert Hearts, the 1986 film about a repressed school teacher who falls in love with another woman. Written with incisive wit and often searing perception, The Celluloid Closet, called a "definitive, masterful book" by San Francisco Sentinel, is a comprehensive and endlessly fascinating work.« less