1940s
Title Year Director Country Genre Cast NotesThe Seventh Victim 1943 United States Horror, film-noir Tom Conway, Jean Brooks, Isabel Jewell, Kim Hunter, Evelyn Brent, Erford Gage, Ben Bard, Hugh Beaumont Rome, Open City 1944 Italy War, drama Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero A supporting female character is forced into a lesbian relationship with a German woman during the Nazi occupation of Rome.Children of Paradise 1945 France Drama, romance Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Marcel Herrand, Pierre Renoir, María Casares, Louis Salou, Gaston Modot, Fabien Loris Though not overtly stated, the antagonist, Lacenaire, is implied to be in a gay relationship with his henchman, Avril.The Lost Weekend 1945 United States Film-noir, drama Ray Milland, Jane Wyman, Phillip Terry, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling, Frank Faylen, Mary Young, Anita Sharp-Bolster (credited as Anita Bolster), Lilian Fontaine, Frank Orth, Lewis Russell Although Billy Wilder's adaptation hews closely to Charles R. Jackson's novel, the novel differed in one respect: Birnam, played by Ray Milland in the movie, is described in the novel as being tormented by a homosexual incident in college. That is omitted from the film.Crossfire 1947 United States Film-noir, crime Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame, Paul Kelly, Sam Levene, Jacqueline White, Steve Brodie, George Cooper, Richard Benedict, Tom Keene (credited as Richard Powers), William Phipps, Lex Barker, Marlo Dwyer Based on the novel The Brick Foxhole by Richard BrooksQuai des Orfèvres1947Henri-Georges ClouzotFrancePolice Procedural, DramaSuzy Delair, Bernard Blier, Louis Jouvet, Simone Renant, Pierre Larquey, Jeanne Fusier-Gir, Claudine Dupuis, Charles Dullin, Henri Arius, Jacques GrétillatFeatures a lesbian character who is infatuated with the female protagonistFireworks 1947 United States Drama Germany, Year Zero 1948 Italy Drama Red River 1948 United States Western John Wayne, Montgomery Clift, Walter Brennan, Joanne Dru, Coleen Gray, Harry Carey, John Ireland, Chief Yowlachie, Paul Fix, Hank Worden, Ray Hyke, Wally Wales, Mickey Kuhn, Robert M. Lopez Rope 1948 United States Crime, drama James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Joan Chandler, Cedric Hardwicke (credited as Sir Cedric Hardwicke), Constance Collier, Douglas Dick, Edith Evanson, Dick Hogan Based on the play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton, itself loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb case. The homosexual relationship between the two criminal protagonists is implied rather than overtly stated.Words and Music 1948 United States Musical, biography Tom Drake, Mickey Rooney, Janet Leigh, Marshall Thompson, Betty Garrett, Jeanette Nolan, Ann Sothern, Perry Como, Cyd Charisse, Richard Quine, Emory Parnell Lorenz Hart (1895–1943) was a homosexual in an era when such was flatly unacceptable; the pressures of the closet drove him into a wildly self-destructive alcoholism that ultimately killed him. None of this is in the movie.The Trip to Marrakesh 1949 West Germany Drama Luise Ullrich, Maria Holst, Karl Ludwig Diehl, Paul Dahlke, Grethe Weiser, Ludwig Linkmann, Michael Korrontay, Günther Evers, Viktor Afritsch, Ernst Fritz Fürbringer Thirst 1949 Sweden Drama Eva Henning, Birger Malmsten, Birgit Tengroth, Hasse Ekman, Mimi Nelson, Bengt Eklund, Gaby Stenberg, Naima Wifstrand, Verner Arpe, Calle Flygare, Sven-Eric Gamble, Helge Hagerman, Else-Merete Heiberg, Estrid Hesse, Gunnar Nielsen, Sif Ruud, Monica Weinzierl Based on the novel of the same name by Birgit TengrothBetween Eleven and Midnight 1949 France Drama, Mystery Louis Jouvet, Madeleine Robinson, Monique Mélinand, Léo Lapara, Robert Vattier, Yvette Etiévant, Gisèle Casadesus Features two homosexual gangsters