A valuable if spotty summary of silver screen homosexuality, covert and overt.

This is an educated analysis on a social issue, not tabloid titilation.

Beyond the gay writers and historians who offer their own essential perspectives, the film is packed with savvily chosen screen scenes and just about every straight performer who ought to be here -- from Shirley MacLaine to Tom Hanks.

Well-written, well-conceived, well-filmed with a strong narrative sense, Celluloid unearths an important chunk of American history without ever stooping to didacticism or simple rhetoric.