Speaking of the Weimar Republic...

I'm always trying to find ways to link the Weimar Republic with our current social and economic environment. The report in Time Magazine about Detroit and other news articles about Detroit's deteriorated social and economic situation are mind boggling. CNN reports how bodies are piling up in morgues because families can't afford the $695 to bury them and the city has no money to bury them either. "Oh the shark bites..."

Then a week later there was a huge article in the Detroit Free Press on how when housing and utility assistance was offered the Cobo Center was mobbed. "with his teeth dear..."

Then a few days later I happened to see a jaw dropping documentary on HBO called Outrage.
(I say jaw dropping because you just can't believe what self-loathing produces, I'm so naive!)
This film is about how many of the polices in Washington against same sex couples are championed by closeted, self loathing homosexuals. Really interesting film. "...and he keeps them pearly white..."

Today I came across a film I have hear of but have NEVER seen. Anders als die Andern this film is a stunner. It is so sad that it was destroyed by the Nazi's. The scene that really made the connection for me with the film Outrage, was the scene where the blackmailer of Paul is in an all male bar conspiring to blackmail Paul further which eventually leads to Paul being sent to jail.

So what does this have to do with Detroit? Not sure, but for some reason I can't get Three Penny Opera out of my head. "They call him Mac the Knife".

Anders als die Andern (1919, Germ.) (aka Different From the Others)
This is what Sex in Cinema has listed about the film:
This silent film (only half of it survives) by director Richard Oswald was reportedly the first representation of male homosexuality ("the third sex") in a feature-length film, and the first screen depiction of a gay bar (with gay males and butch females); it was also notable for sympathetically portraying homosexuality; the two ill-fated lovers were prominent pianist Paul Korner (Conrad Veidt) and his young music student, Kurt (Fritz Schulz); the film had a tragic ending (suicide for Korner) due to the effects of blackmail (threats of exposure), jail time for violating anti-homosexuality statutes, and the social stigma of being outed; the film was banned by the Nazis and all prints were ordered destroyed, although one incomplete print surfaced in the Ukraine; the film's themes were repeated in Victim (1961, UK), with Dirk Bogarde.