Just saw two different movies in which men passed of as women (Head) and
viceversa (Theater of Blood.)
The gender reversal issue may or may not be genre related. If you catch it, then you know you are meant to be fooled, but if you do not notice it you may get a weird, unidentifiable feeling. The Old Dark House, a classic has it. More obscure films such as María de mi corazón* features a matron who is played by a man, but dubbed by a woman. I caught it, but nevertheless I am left with the uneasy feeling of not knowing if it was meant to be a burly woman, or some guy in drag sneaked into the women's sanatorium and got a way with fooling everyone.
*“A very fantastic story about a robber (Hector) and a magician (Maria). Once they were lovers, but he left her. One fine day they re-encounter each other and become lovers again. She takes him away from the ‘bad road’ and they then work as magicians at children’s parties. One day, while she was away in a business trip, her car cracks up in the middle of the highway, during a storm. She is picked up by a mental hospital’s bus that takes her there. Now she cannot get out because everyone thinks she is mentally ill.”
The gender reversal issue may or may not be genre related. If you catch it, then you know you are meant to be fooled, but if you do not notice it you may get a weird, unidentifiable feeling. The Old Dark House, a classic has it. More obscure films such as María de mi corazón* features a matron who is played by a man, but dubbed by a woman. I caught it, but nevertheless I am left with the uneasy feeling of not knowing if it was meant to be a burly woman, or some guy in drag sneaked into the women's sanatorium and got a way with fooling everyone.
*“A very fantastic story about a robber (Hector) and a magician (Maria). Once they were lovers, but he left her. One fine day they re-encounter each other and become lovers again. She takes him away from the ‘bad road’ and they then work as magicians at children’s parties. One day, while she was away in a business trip, her car cracks up in the middle of the highway, during a storm. She is picked up by a mental hospital’s bus that takes her there. Now she cannot get out because everyone thinks she is mentally ill.”
