Christopher And His Kind (2011)

[Marius]

BBC production of the story of Christopher Isherwood's years in the wide-open Berlin of the '30s. The film stars Doctor Who's Matt Smith and the lovely Douglas Booth as his German boyfiriend.

Complete film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hjidIaTYiE

[Bruin Fisher]

It's a great film, very well acted. Isherwood doesn't come across as a very likeable person, though....

[Nick Deverill]

Blocked in the UK - but some USA proxies work.

[Marius]

It's a great film, very well acted. Isherwood doesn't come across as a very likeable person, though....

At the end of the film Auden said to Isherwood:

"The only cause you care about is yourself...You've turned it into an art form, rather successfully as it happens."

There was a documentary made about the second half of Isherwood's life - "Chris and Don: A Love Story." It's about his years in California with the artist Don Barchardy. Below is the film's trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hb5pFoAh-U

[Merkin]

Isherwood was quite an icon for many American gays; he seemed to have it all, lionized by both the literary community and the Hollywood crowd, and very public in a time when being public was not possible for ordinary gay mortals. He was, not unlike other "stars", extraordinarily full of himself and well able to seize any opportunity for self-aggrandizement. By coming to the United States he somehow managed to shed the very nasty parts of his European reputation.

[DesDownunder]

A photographer friend of mine, from Isherwood's era and persuasion, stood in awe of the man for what he wrote and the photos he took. He was beacon of modernity in a very difficult and repressive time, and much admired for his talents.