Rob Price
Ed Wood was a prolific filmmaker, actor, screenwriter, director and pulp novel author, mostly producing very low-budget science fiction and crime dramas. His first movie was a docudrama called Glen or Glenda and his most famous film was Plan 9 from Outer Space which became a cult classic when it started airing on late night television horror programs. His movies are known for their campiness, technical errors, cheesy special effects, and unique characters. His last films delved into the new genre of horror porn with movies like, Take it Out in Trade and Necromania. Wood had his own secrets and was a transvestite, liked to wear women’s clothing, in his later years he became depressed and spiraled into extreme alcoholism and eventually died relatively young, at the age of 54, of a heart attack. He remained relatively obscure until after his death. In 1980 he was named the Worst Director of All Time at the Golden Turkey Awards, which renewed interest in his films. In this article we will look at his first film, Glen or Glenda and the Tim Burton bio-pic movie about his life, Ed Wood.
Glen or Glenda (1953)
The movie was inspired by the sex reassignment surgery story of Christine Jorgensen, whose sex change operation was big news in 1952. Low-budget film producer George Weiss wanted a movie to exploit its popularity. Weiss even attempted to get Christine to appear in the film. Ed Wood convinced Weiss to let him write and direct the film due to his own transvestitism. The movie was shot in four days and instead of being about a sex change, was mainly about a transvestite. A police inspector is investigating the suicide of a transvestite and seeks advice from Dr. Alton (Timothy Farrell) a physician who specializes in such cases. The doctor relates two stories, the first is the case of Glen (Ed Wood as Daniel Davis) who is engaged to be married but likes to wear women’s clothing. He is not a homosexual, and still loves women. He is conflicted if he should tell his fiancé, Barbara (Dolores Fuller) before they are married and risk her leaving or wait until after. Bela Lugosi plays a scientist who does a type of narration throughout the film, but the narration has little to do with the story. During a storm, Glen collapses and has visions as he wrestles with his inner turmoil. Eventually deciding to tell Barbara the truth beforehand. She is at first shocked and upset, but then accepts Glen for who he is and even offers him her angora sweater as a symbol of acceptance. The second story that Dr. Alton reveals to the police detective, is that of Alan, who after World War II undergoes sexual reassignment surgery.
The movie is badly acted and badly written and makes little to no sense. Dolores Fuller was Ed Woods real life girlfriend at the time but did not know when they started making the film that Ed was a transvestite, their relationship would end soon after the film was completed. For the most part, the film does preach tolerance and besides a few psychological aspects that I don’t agree with, the film was largely pro-trans which impressed me for the era it was made in.
Ed Wood (1994)
Directed by Tim Burton, Ed Wood looks at the life of the filmmaker during the period where he was doing his best work and highlights his relationship with Bela Lugosi. The film also examines Ed’s relationship with a Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker) and his later marriage to Kathy O’Hara (Pattricia Arquette) who he remained with until his death. The film does not include his very short lived marriage to Norma McCarty who left him a month after they tied the knot when she discovered he liked to dress up in women’s clothes. The two never officially got divorced and there is no record of an annulment so, technically he was still married to Norma when he married Kathy. The movie is both funny and moving in its romanticized depiction of the friendship between Bela and Ed and the effects Bela’s drug addiction and depression played in both their lives. The film was originally developed for Columbia Pictures, but they dropped the film when Tim Burton decided to shoot it as a black and white picture. Disney’s Touchstone Pictures picked it up. The movie was not a financial success on returning $13. 8 million against an $18 million dollar budget. But it was a critical success garnering two academy awards. A well-deserved one of Martin Landau’s performance as Lugosi and one for Best Makeup for Rick Baker, Ve Neil and Yolanda Toussieng.
Like many of Ed Wood’s actual films, the movie has become a cult classic and is considered, by some, to be one of Tim Burton’s best works. The film is emotionally moving and zany as only Tim Burton can do. The performances are spot on, and the black and white aspect lends the perfect ambiance to a film about a 1950s science fiction director. It is also a fitting homage to a unique and interesting person that the world largely forgot about.
Ed Wood was a one-of-a-kind man who never got the fame or fortune he so desperately wanted. In his later years he depended more on his books and novels as a means of support, writing at least 80 lurid crime and sex novels and some short stories and non-fiction pieces. Wood also left a long list of unrealized projects, many of them were set to star Bela Lugosi, but most never made it to fruition. Included in this list is even a musical called Shoot Seven based on the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Like so many creative people, Ed’s life was volatile and hard and ended far too soon.
