Transvestite Director Makes it Big in the World of Movies! (Ed Wood (DVD))

Member Name: marandina

Product:	Ed Wood (DVD)
Date:	06/05/06 (245 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Leads are fabulous, fascinating story

Disadvantages: Shot in black and white

In the world of movies, a few make it to the very pinnacle and occasionally get recognised though award ceremonies. The vast majority of movies operate in the safety of the middle ground but some turn out to be not very good at all or just plain bad. And then there are some that are so bad that they are good or ultimately simply unwatchable. “ Ed Wood” tells the story of one of the worst directors of all time. Renowned for his shlock b-movies in the 50’s and 60’s, Edward D Wood Junior made some dreadful films. In that perverse turn of fate that happens from time to time, his work turned him into a cult icon that still permeates recent movie history today and in this 1994 production, Tim Burton tells his story with a great deal of panache and no little controversy.

Ed Wood (Johnny Depp) is a wannabe filmmaker with no money. Together with his wife, Dolores (Sarah Jessica Parker) they try to hustle the funds to get their respective careers of producer and actress off the ground. When Wood persuades a small time film producer in Hollywood to fund his movie about a transvestite and his struggle to come to terms with his identity (hugely self-referential but not at all what the movie producer wants), “Glen or Glenda” bombs at the box office making Wood a laughing stock. However, unperturbed, Wood continues to try and raise money for another movie called “Bride of The Atom”. Having discovered the old, horror actor Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau) roaming around in a shop, Wood uses him as leverage to, first of all, secure the funds for the ill-fated “Glen or Glenda” and then as the star of his latest movie funded by a meat magnate who insists his son must take the lead role. The rest of the movie is the biopic tale of Wood’s struggle from obscurity to the movie he’s most remembered for – “Plan 9 From Outer Space”.

If the story weren’t based on true facts, most people would simply believe that the tale of Ed Wood was pure fiction. The fact that he was a transvestite in real life and often directed his movies in women’s clothes is one thing but to have an entourage that included Bunny Breckinridge (Bill Murray), a man desperate for a sex change, Tor Johnson (George 'The Animal' Steele), a professional wrestler turned actor and Vampira (Lisa Marie), an ex-late night horror TV hostess borders on the bizarre. Tim Burton directs with his tongue-in-cheek for the most part. Shot in black and white, much of the script is taken up with camp exchanges giving Depp the opportunity to play yet another unconventional lead that he delivers with his customary aplomb.

From opening credits backed by loony, 50’s sci-fi b-movie music to numerous one-liners that punctuate the film with humour, Burton seems to want to document Wood’s trials and tribulations with a degree of authenticity whilst laughing at him with a metaphorical hand over his mouth. There are plenty of sight gags that take the movie into the realms of cartoon at times. As Wood arrives for the Premiere of one of his movies, he can’t get the hood down on his open-top car and it's pouring down with rain. When he returns later, he opens the door only for lots of water to gush out around his ankles. It could be something straight from an Abbott and Costello movie but it adds a levity that the scenarios do benefit from given the enduring oddness of the whole situation. During a fight with his partner, Dolores hurtles a pan in Wood’s general direction, hitting him on the back of the head, Wood stops and falls over backwards – pause for laughter. It’s nicely done but at odds sometimes with the underlying seriousness of Wood’s struggle. As for shooting in black and white then, personally, I’m never convinced. An original bone of contention that nearly stopped the movie being made at all, using black and white strikes me as the director being pretentious and trying to be arthouse when it’s clear that the movie we are seeing is big budget and should have the full glory of colour.

As ever, Depp is on top form. With an endearing naivety and usually grinning inanely, Depp credits the inspiration for this particular part as a combination of Ronald Reagan, the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" and Casey Kasem and it looks for all the world like a forerunner of Willy Wonka from the more recent “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Depp gets some great lines to deliver and with his customary sense of timing, he tells Kathy O'Hara (Patricia Arquette) that he wouldn’t normally tells girls this on the first date but he likes to dress up in women’s clothes and will this get in the way? His fetish for angora sweaters is an ongoing feature but his on-screen chemistry with Martin Landau playing the ageing Bela Lugosi is what transforms the film from the potentially mundane to a very good movie.

The fact that Lugosi spent the last 20 years of his life washed up; living on his own and addled by his drug abuse is neatly drawn by the director. His relationship with Ed Wood and the warmth of their friendship given the surreal situation takes the movie down a more conventional route of two men becoming good friends. Called out late at night on several occasions to rescue Lugosi from the affects of his drug taking, having initially been awe-struck by the presence of the old actor, Wood simply becomes fond of him in a protective way eventually persuading Lugosi to check himself into a drug rehabilitation centre. Landau’s portrayal of the Hungarian master of menace is full of warmth, power and vulnerable passion. Eventually winning an Oscar for best supporting actor, Landau lights up the screen whenever he features and to see him go from one minute dressing down a movie hand for suggesting he ever played second fiddle to Boris Karloff to struggling with a fake octopus in a lake at 4am is quite breathtaking, if a little strange.

Apart from the two main leads, the movie is full of big name supports. Sarah Jessica Parker is suitably demure and unconvinced as Wood's partner, Dolores Fuller whilst Patricia Arquette (currently big in the TV series “Medium”) is all hugs and smiles as Wood’s eventual wife. Bill Murray is overly camp as Bunny Breckinbridge whilst Lisa Marie looks decidedly sexy as Vampira (probably line of the movie is when Wood and Lugosi are watching Vampira present her late night horror show on TV and Lugosi, all deadpan says “I think she's a honey. Look at those jugs.”)

"Ed Wood" has won numerous awards for best make-up too and it's certainly a visual extravaganza of on-screen vampires, cheap flying saucers and wonderfully, authentic movie lots. The world of movies is brought home convincingly throughout although parody is never far away from Scott Alexander's screenplay.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie; it’s a movie that will appeal to folks who like biopics, movies with a sense of humour or simply those people interested in a strange but true story. Ed Wood’s work lives on today and if you ever want to watch the “worst movie of all time” then “Plan 9 From Outer Space” is still available via DVD, VHS and numerous re-runs on TV stations. Interestingly, it almost certainly isn’t the worst movie of all time (although still awful) but then we like our labels don’t we? Rated 15 for adult themes and with a running time of 127 minutes, “Ed Wood” is a fascinating story. Highly recommended.

Thanks for reading

Mara.

VHS/DVD available from Amazon from £5.97.

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