This is a list of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender-related films released in the 1940s. It contains theatrically released cinema films that deal with or feature important gay, lesbian or bisexual or transgender characters or issues and may have same-sex romance or relationships as an important plot device.
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.
To say this is a "whitewashed" version of the famous song-writing team Rodgers and Hart is a gross understatement. 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. There was no way on earth that 1940s Hollywood could approach these facts.
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United States
France
Italy
West Germany
Sweden