Our betters 1933 movie gay
Our Betters is a 1933 film directed by George Cukor.
Pearl (Constance Bennett) is an American woman, heir to a lot of "hardware wealth", who at the start of the film is getting married to Lord George Grayston. Pearl is still wearing her wedding dress when she finds out that not only did George marry her for her money, he still has a lover, whom he has no intention of giving up.
Cut forward five years. Pearl and George are still married but in name only, and hardly ever see each other. Pearl had made the best of her situation, becoming a queen of the London social scene. She hangs out with a lot of upper-class fops and goofballs, like Duchess Minnie, a divorcee with a young man toy named Pepi who has the hots for Pearl; Arthur Fenwick, an American businessman who also has the hots for pearl; and Thornton Clay, who personifies I Am Very British despite the fact he was born and raised in Ohio; and Princess Flora, another American who misses home.
Pearl is hosting her younger sister Bessie, who has been in England for six months. She is intending to match him up with Lord Harry Bleane, another British aristocrat but at least one who likes Bessie, unlike Pearl and George. But the s
Proof That It’s a Pre-Code Film
- “Are you making love to me?”
“That’s nothing new, is it?”
- “I didn’t believe such language could emanate from a woman’s throat!”
- This film’s ultimate line is infamous.
“It’s wonderful how you’ve made your way, Pearl.”
“Shall I narrate you how I’ve done it? Through force of ethics, wit, unscrupulousness, and push.”
“You’re very frank.”
“It’s always been my pose.”
Our Betters throws you for a loop. Many of Constance Bennett’s roles in the pre-Code era were tales of lascivious women and the sins they pay for. This one starts with doe-eyed heiress Bennett heading to the altar with the man of her dreams, only to overhear him on their wedding night as he tells the gal he’s really in love with that he’ll now hold enough money to keep them together. Constance gets a title and an entryway into British society– spurned, she decides to form the most of it.
No such thing as too much Connie Bennett.
We pluck up the story a few years later, and Bennett’s Pearl has
June is Pride Month for the queer community and this year promises to be perhaps one of the richest celebrations in recent memory, beginning with the groundbreaking Turner Classic Movies air of Screened Out: Gay Images In Film, a month-long 44-film tribute inspired by the Richard Barrios book Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall, moderated by Barrios with Robert Osborne and interstitial commentary by Michael Musto, Ron Nyswaner, Charles Busch, Tab Stalker, Alan Cumming and Don Murray. TCM is airing the series every Monday and Wednesday in June at 8:00PM Eastern / 5:00PM Pacific.
Bookwrapcentraloffers up a fantastic sampling of video clips of Barrios discussing his book. To further set the stage, here's a YouTube clip on Tab Hunter. My thanks to AfterEltonfor alerting me to same:
Here's the program schedule for Screened Out: Gay Images In Film. All Times Pacific. Notes by TCM.
Monday, June 4
Night One—The Early Years
At a time when much of the world is hotly debating rights that should or should not be granted to lesbians and gay men, it's useful to recall that the controversy has been present for a far greater time than many p
Queer Places:
University of Cambridge, 4 Mill Ln, Cambridge CB2 1RZ
Tyrell Davis (September 29, 1902 - December 8, 1970) was a British motion picture actor,[1][2] Cambridge educated, who appeared on the West Cease and Broadway stage, as well as in British and American films.[3]
Tyrell Davis was born on September 29, 1902 in Surbiton, Surrey, England as Harry Davis. He was an performer, known for Strictly Unconventional (1930), Consent Us Be Homosexual (1930) and Paid (1930). He was married to Lota B. Cheek.
In George Cukor's Out Betters (1933), Tyrell Davis played one of the swishiest homosexual of them all. He appears just in the last minutes of the film, waltzing into the drawing room of Constance Bennett, his wrists limp, his nose in the wind, his painted lips pursed as it for a embrace. "You must allow me for coming in my town clothes," he lisps, "but your chauffeur said there wasn't a moment to lose, so I came just as I am!" Our Betters was based on a script by Cukor's nice friend, W. Somerset Maugham, and was all about rewriting sexual mores. When Bennett kisses her rival, Violet Kemble Cooper, on the lips, Mr Ernest clasps his hands together and gushes: "That