Uninvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability

Uncovering a massive trove of what she calls ""lesbian representability""--images of lesbian desire, love and life--in mainstream movies, White provides an insightful look at classic American films. While some of the images and situations she cites are relatively obvious--as in A Member of the Wedding (1952), in which Julie Harris plays the tomboy Frankie Addams--many are more coded--as in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) or All This and Heaven Too with Bette Davis (1940). Ranging across an impressive span of films, White proves as conversant with the little-known ghost story The Uninvited (1944) as she is with the more famous (and openly lesbian) The Killing of Sister George (1969) or All About Eve (1944). While some readers may greet White's revelations of lesbian images in so many mainstream films with suspicion or weariness, her myriad examples and finely wrought arguments prove both convincing and engaging. She is at her most provocative when discussing lesbian innuendoes in the performances (and careers) of such leading lady sidekicks as Ethel Waters, Agnes Moorehead and Thelma Ritter. Grounding her analysis in feminist film theory, White expects her readers to have some knowledge of the works of Mary Ann Doan, Teresa De Lauretis and Annette Kuhn, although she is careful to explain their often complicated theories in accessible prose. (Nov.)