LITEROTICA PODCAST
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

The Sewing Circle

Finally - Ammonite arrived. US import that happily it played on my DVD

I've had 24hrs to mull it over but my opinion hasn't changed. Firstly - good little film, Kate Winslet is amazing, Saoirse not at her best and sundry others who I recognised but can't name in strong support.

Good things first: it flies the flag for Mary Anning, who was a leading fossil expert in the 1800s when England was stiff with a class based and patriarchal society. Her discoveries were regularly 'claimed' by rich men of influence. You can Google her story, so I won't say any more. Hurray for women being acknowledged.

It's a lesbian love story and there are some 'Oh my gosh' scenes as well as lots of long meaningful looks from Mary, but Saoirse as Charlotte was two dimensional.

Disappointing things: it does neither very well. The sex feels shameful and hurried and the down-trodden poor woman felt cliched. Comparing it to Portrait of Young Woman on Fire might be unfair, but that film totally nailed it. It had a fantastic sound-scape, it felt paced better and was beautifully composed with vistas that are a delight.

What a pity that Ammonite missed those tricks. Don't get me wrong - it is still worth seeing and I will guard my imported copy with my life and rewatch it, but I just felt a bit cheated.
 
stickygirl said:
Finally - Ammonite arrived. US import that happily it played on my DVD

I've had 24hrs to mull it over but my opinion hasn't changed. Firstly - good little film, Kate Winslet is amazing, Saoirse not at her best and sundry others who I recognised but can't name in strong support.

Good things first: it flies the flag for Mary Anning, who was a leading fossil expert in the 1800s when England was stiff with a class based and patriarchal society. Her discoveries were regularly 'claimed' by rich men of influence. You can Google her story, so I won't say any more. Hurray for women being acknowledged.

It's a lesbian love story and there are some 'Oh my gosh' scenes as well as lots of long meaningful looks from Mary, but Saoirse as Charlotte was two dimensional.

Disappointing things: it does neither very well. The sex feels shameful and hurried and the down-trodden poor woman felt cliched. Comparing it to Portrait of Young Woman on Fire might be unfair, but that film totally nailed it. It had a fantastic sound-scape, it felt paced better and was beautifully composed with vistas that are a delight.

What a pity that Ammonite missed those tricks. Don't get me wrong - it is still worth seeing and I will guard my imported copy with my life and rewatch it, but I just felt a bit cheated.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this thoughtful review stickygirl. I'm looking forward to watching this. I love Kate Winslet and I'm sure she does not disappoint. If I am able to get my hands on a copy I'll let you know how I like it. :)
 
https://64.media.tumblr.com/b3b0cd3311fbdb79cee772a345490ae4/4ff912c7f3ab6ad0-93/s540x810/3a42a322461e0257d41ae6096858d429b6ab1c97.jpg

"If one were to try to place Joan Crawford on Kinsey's Heterosexual-Homosexual Rating Scale (where 0 is exclusively heterosexual and 6 is exclusively homosexual), she would probably rate about a 2 ("predominantely heterosexual, but more than incidentally homosexual"). At this time, lesbian experimentation was sometimes seen as just a way of expressing freedom and lack of inhibition. 'At least you can't get pregnant,' Joan joked many years later, when the subject of lesbianism somehow came up at a luncheon."

-Excerpt from Joan Crawford The Essential Biography By Lawrence J. Quirk and William Schoell

I love Joan. I've read a few books about her life. She both scares, and inspires me :heart:
 
Something I need to look into more about Marlene D.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/713963b020ec5b556073aa31593e3479/ee882277f621d799-c6/s540x810/06c047a23c16e9b2ad24f424259a54645377e295.jpg

"During her Paramount days, Marlene Dietrich verged from the norm for an affair with Kay Francis (known lesbian), and since that time has been involved in similar experiences, although less known."
-An excerpt from the FBI files conducted on Marlene Dietrich because she was considered to be a German/European spy

Thought to have been a spy? Does anyone know any more about this? I know what I am about to search now :)
 
One more for this morning :)

https://64.media.tumblr.com/d229c66118c3e2f1ea83151b78898dc8/b81ced835775a197-a4/s540x810/bb0fb1c384a4c06d4838f91b095c6faaccfdb0ec.jpg

"Martha Raye was a minor star in Hollywood. She played opposite Charlie Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and appeared in a number of other films over a forty-year career. In a Washington Post interview, Mark Harris, her seventh (and final) husband revealed that Raye had been bisexual. She told him, 'I went both ways, like yourself.'"
-From Bisexual Characters in Film From Ana's to Zee by Wayne M Bryant
 
https://64.media.tumblr.com/0096187c154154dfc5c830a0a2a4561f/tumblr_nrapo41UO31u5q7jfo1_1280.jpg

“ Lesbian pulp fiction refers to any mid-20th century paperback novel (often conflated with pulp magazinefiction) with overtly lesbian themes and content. Lesbian pulp fiction was published in the 1950s and 60s by many of the same paperback publishing houses that other genres of fiction including Westerns, Romances, and Detective Fiction. Because very little other literature was available for and about lesbians at this time, quite often these books were the only reference people (lesbian and otherwise) had for modeling what lesbians were.

Stephanie Foote, from the University of Illinois commented on the importance of lesbian pulp novels to the lesbian identity prior to feminism: “Pulps have been understood as signs of a secret history of readers, and they have been valued because they have been read. The more they are read, the more they are valued, and the more they are read, the closer the relationship between the very act of circulation and reading and the construction of a lesbian community becomes…Characters use the reading of novels as a way to understand that they are not alone.”[1] Writer Donna Allegra explained why she purchased them in saying, “No matter how embarrassed and ashamed I felt when I went to the cash register to buy these books, it was absolutely necessary for me to have them. I needed them the way I needed food and shelter for survival.”

https://thejohnforest.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/qf_0730_forbidden_love.jpg
 
sally_sparrow said:
https://64.media.tumblr.com/0096187c154154dfc5c830a0a2a4561f/tumblr_nrapo41UO31u5q7jfo1_1280.jpg

“ Lesbian pulp fiction refers to any mid-20th century paperback novel (often conflated with pulp magazinefiction) with overtly lesbian themes and content. Lesbian pulp fiction was published in the 1950s and 60s by many of the same paperback publishing houses that other genres of fiction including Westerns, Romances, and Detective Fiction. Because very little other literature was available for and about lesbians at this time, quite often these books were the only reference people (lesbian and otherwise) had for modeling what lesbians were.

Stephanie Foote, from the University of Illinois commented on the importance of lesbian pulp novels to the lesbian identity prior to feminism: “Pulps have been understood as signs of a secret history of readers, and they have been valued because they have been read. The more they are read, the more they are valued, and the more they are read, the closer the relationship between the very act of circulation and reading and the construction of a lesbian community becomes…Characters use the reading of novels as a way to understand that they are not alone.”[1] Writer Donna Allegra explained why she purchased them in saying, “No matter how embarrassed and ashamed I felt when I went to the cash register to buy these books, it was absolutely necessary for me to have them. I needed them the way I needed food and shelter for survival.”

https://thejohnforest.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/qf_0730_forbidden_love.jpg
Click to expand...


I love this poster.
 
Proceed with caution

https://64.media.tumblr.com/0bad43af4d24754a5c0e6476b53c4014/tumblr_ptnxkjkJwr1y4b3c7o1_500.jpg

“If there is a lesbian film deserves the title ‘most homophobic ever’ The Fox (1967) is probably it. So offensive and upsetting—it fails to amuse on every level—that it is really not a film to see if you’re feeling the slightest bit unsure of your sexuality. And if you’re not depressed when you go into this movie, you certainly will be on the way out. In a tale of turgid, sterile lesbianism versus bombastic, virile heterosexuality, the audience is asked to judge whom Ellen March ought to love, and be pleased when she turns inevitably straight.”-From Lesbian Film Guide by Allison Darren
 
Thank you hotwords229_A

hotwords229_A said:
You always have something interesting Sally. :)

I looked this up and here is a link to the full documentary for free:

https://filmzie.com/content/forbidden-love-the-unashamed-stories-of-lesbian-lives

I’ll be watching this later.
Click to expand...

I was finally able to set time aside yesterday to watch this documentary. It was humbling and validating. It made me incredibly grateful for the women (and men) that paved the way toward LGBTQ+ rights, and equality. I think I chose to watch this at the perfect time, with it being Pride month. I'm feeling very appreciative, and humbled. Thanks again for sharing it here. It was a great find!
 
sally_sparrow said:
I was finally able to set time aside yesterday to watch this documentary. It was humbling and validating. It made me incredibly grateful for the women (and men) that paved the way toward LGBTQ+ rights, and equality. I think I chose to watch this at the perfect time, with it being Pride month. I'm feeling very appreciative, and humbled. Thanks again for sharing it here. It was a great find!
Click to expand...

:heart:
 
sally_sparrow said:
https://64.media.tumblr.com/713963b020ec5b556073aa31593e3479/ee882277f621d799-c6/s540x810/06c047a23c16e9b2ad24f424259a54645377e295.jpg

"During her Paramount days, Marlene Dietrich verged from the norm for an affair with Kay Francis (known lesbian), and since that time has been involved in similar experiences, although less known."
-An excerpt from the FBI files conducted on Marlene Dietrich because she was considered to be a German/European spy

Thought to have been a spy? Does anyone know any more about this? I know what I am about to search now :)
Click to expand...


The file sounds like a wrong guess, Dietrich despised National Socialism and Hitler
 
https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5c78531f36000001186b02ee.jpeg?ops=scalefit_630_noupscale

Hattie McDaniel had one of the most famous roles ever by a black actor or actress when she played "Mammy" in Gone With The Wind, and was the first black actress actor to win a coveted Academy Award Oscar. She was also the first black woman to sing on radio in the United States.

McDaniel was bisexual and a member of the secretive Sewing Circle. It has been reported that she had an affair with Tallulah Bankhead. Some of these women, including Hattie were in "lavender marriages" which appeared normal to the public, but privately they had same sex lovers.

https://reelrundown.com/celebrities...-Scandals-and-the-Stars-of-Gone-With-The-Wind
 
Jerseyshore said:
The file sounds like a wrong guess, Dietrich despised National Socialism and Hitler
Click to expand...

Yep, she fled Germany when Hitler got into power. She also helped to design wave signal hopping, for the US Navy for use in torpedoes and which we continue to use today in cell phones and other forms of communication.

She received a patent on the technology.
 
FL30 said:
Yep, she fled Germany when Hitler got into power. She also helped to design wave signal hopping, for the US Navy for use in torpedoes and which we continue to use today in cell phones and other forms of communication.

She received a patent on the technology.
Click to expand...

Um, no, it was another actress, Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil who patented an early version of frequency modulation in 1942 that made it harder to jam radio guided torpedoes. The principal is used in Bluetooth comms.
 
sally_sparrow said:
https://64.media.tumblr.com/def9ffec407e8313ac4ee0353ec02ff7/51bf458e8a0c5566-57/s1280x1920/455842e9af6126d8849bfa2609b60380b92072ae.jpg

Josephine Hutchinson left her husband when she fell in love with stage actress Eva Le Gallienne. The couple lived together for several years and the press called Josephine “Eva’s shadow”. Here they are as their on screen characters, Wendy and Peter Pan.
Click to expand...

Mary Martin (mother of Larry Hagman) played Peter Pan in a popular TV adaptation in the 1960s
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
actors/actresses
Replies
14
Views
1K
bham_guy
B
spacekowboy
Classic Film Fans Rejoice!
Replies
10
Views
1K
spacekowboy
spacekowboy
G
Happy 100th Birthday, Cary Grant
Replies
7
Views
429
English Lady
English Lady
G
Another movie thread (famous/best scenes)
2 3
Replies
53
Views
2K
CharleyH
CharleyH
tigerjen
Katharine Hepburn.....a legend....RIP 6/29/2003
Replies
10
Views
692
Avery_Chisholm
Avery_Chisholm
Back
Top