It might sound like the stuff of fiction, but it’s all true. How, you might ask?

• Barbara’s rather “rough” upbringing with life in and out of foster homes made her dream of becoming a performer; her drive to “make it” was palpable,
• Her work as a showgirl at a young age helped launch her rather successful career on Broadway and then on the silver screen,
• Her prolific output of films - Wikipedia claims she made 85 films in 38 years (!); see selected list below - brought her enormous fame and wealth,
• Her childless marriage to incredibly popular and dashing leading heterosexual man Robert Taylor (1911-1969; he later remarried and had two children) might have been a lavender marriage[1], a practice quite common during the golden age of Hollywood, but having a celebrity husband was another way for her to stay in the spotlight (think of couples like Brangelina, Bennifer, Becks and Posh, etc.),
• She certainly had grandes cojones - she taught Robert Taylor how to play a spurned lover for his film Camille (George Kucor, 1936) with Greta Garbo!
• Her deep, gravelly voice, her rowdy and boisterous demeanor and her mixture of sass and glamor - she wore a lot of sparkly dresses - made her approachable.

All these factors seemed to have been a formula for her success in Hollywood, as well as with the gay and lesbian community. Her strong, independent personality arguably makes her a good fit as a feminist icon as well. We can only recommend you watch some of her films and see what you think. 

We also highly suggest you read  “Today in Gay History: The Inimitable Barbara Stanwyck” by Andrew Belonsky for Out magazine for more information about the late, great Barbara Stanwyck, one of Hollywood's greatest stars and suspected lesbian. 

Selected filmography (click titles for selected clips or trailers):
Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937) 
Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks, 1941)
Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
Sorry, Wrong Number (Anatole Litvak, 1948)
Walk on the Wild Side (Edward Dmytryk, 1962; a film with heavy lesbian undertones) 
Roustabout (John Rich, 1964; with Elvis Presley!) 

Special thanks to Felicia Carparelli for providing me with information for this piece and to filmmaker Emma Seligman who reminded me that Barbara Stanwyck was (most likely) a closeted lesbian. My interview with Emma will be published this Friday, July 20! Come back to read what Emma has to say about sex, the Jewish culture, her work as a filmmaker and, of course, Barbara Stanwyck 😊

[1] For those unfamiliar with the term, a “lavender marriage” refers to a “male-female marriage,” also known as a “mixed-orientation marriage,” a type of marriage of convenience, “in which one or both of the partners is homosexual, pansexual or bisexual.” The main reason several Hollywood celebrities in the golden era of Hollywood entered into lavender marriages was to hide their homosexuality because it was not accepted. One of the earliest uses of the phrase appeared in the British press in 1895, at a time when lavender was associated with homosexuality. 
(Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavender_marriage)
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By Christina Schultz


“Margarethe von Trotta is two things: the most important woman director to emerge from the New German Cinema, and narrative cinema’s foremost feminist filmmaker. Bold claims indeed – but irrefutable ones in my opinion, for there is no other director, male or female, who has matched von Trotta’s single-minded determination to show cinema audiences real female characters.” - Ben Andac, Senses of Cinema[1]

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When you think of German Cinema, I bet the names of many male directors come to your mind: Fritz Lang (Metropolis 1927, M 1930), Volker Schlöndorff (Young Törless 1966, The Tin Drum 1979), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Ali: Fear Eats the Soul 1974, The Marriage of Maria Braun 1979), Werner Herzog (Fitzcarraldo 1982, Grizzly Man 2005) and Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas 1984, Wings of Desire 1987).

Perhaps you know other male directors to add to the list but can you name any female directors from Germany (besides Leni Riefenstahl)?

To get you started, here’s one I would like to introduce you: my personal favorite female filmmaker from Deutschland, Margarethe von Trotta (1942-).

Associated with the “New German Cinema” from the 1960s to the early 1980s and aforementioned directors Fassbinder, Herzog, Schlöndorff, Wenders and others, Margarethe von Trotta is one of the few female counterparts to the heavily male dominated auteur cinema (Autorenkino) at that time. Her films tell stories of women and therefore her work has often been labelled as part of the Frauenfilm (Women’s Film) movement, which includes other female directors such as Helke Sander and Helma Sanders-Brahms. Margarethe von Trotta’s films, like those of her female filmmaker contemporaries in Germany, portray strong, emancipated women, usually sisters or close friends, and can certainly be considered feminist, which is why I recommend that you, the Femfilmfam, familiarize yourself with her works.

Below is a very small overview of some of her key films. There are, however, many more you could watch and all would be relevant if you are interested in films made by women about women.