Load of rubbish!!

Excellent but underrated film

A Masterpiece!

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Ed Wood's "classic" surrealist docudrama romance horror semi-autobio "Glen or Glenda" joins the ranks of films like "Eraserhead" and "The Holy Mountain" in terms of pure, unadulterated weirdness. It probably wasn't intended to be so bizarre and mindbending, and that's a large part of what makes it so great. It feels like an awkward and occasionally incoherent collaboration between David Lynch and Tommy Wiseau (one of the most unlikely pairs in cinematic history!!!), and, naturally, it is an entertaining stain on the carpet of filmmaking.

The world of cross dressing took a beating in this Ed Wood debacle, the first to feature long faded horror star Bela Lugosi, still reduced to touring in wretched productions of "Dracula". In need of quick cash, Lugosi took what he could get to quote non-Edgar Allan Poe poetry that started off with "Bevare!" and concludes with his melodramatic cry of "Pull da strings!". Those who saw this film probably thought, hey that guy reminds me of that dead actor who played Count Dracula, not realizing that like Abe Vigoda, the actor was still very much alive.Lovingly recreated by Tim Burton for " Ed Wood", this film has achieved a legend all its own. Yes, it is wretched, the cross dressers (obviously the transvestites of their day) are sad looking and desperate. Times have changed for men who long to live as women, and in a sense, this film did more harm than good. Wood at this point wasn't the trollish looking man he would ultimately be a decade later, and his efforts to tell what he considered an important story is respectable if ill-advised.Lugosi stands out of course, as a shell of himself, but determined to have some sort of dignity, even if they just meant paying off creditors. In the first of his three Ed Wood appearances, he remains commanding even if the vehicle he prayed would be his comeback failed. Every serious moment Wood intended just brings on laughs, and ultimately, that is why Wood is remembered today.

How can you describe Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda? Well, it was supposed to be a biopic on Christine Jorgensen, the subject of the first, well-known, sex change, but Wood transformed the story into a semi- autobiography about his cross-dressing habit and how the society looks down on those like him.Essentially, this is a sociological docudrama about transvestites and pseudo-hermaphrodites, depicting tribal rituals and connecting them with contemporary social issues, laced with a slight comedic touch and filled with loads of idiosyncratic stock footage and featuring a narrator speaking cryptic, pseudo-philosophical, non-sequitur lines in a shlocky B-horror film spook-lab, but then it turns into an auto- biographic plea for compassion to viewers and follows two stories of two characters, intercut with strange nursery rhymes and interrupted by an impressionist/psychological horror-themed surrealist dream sequence featuring vignettes of sadomasochism, rape, religious imagery and an autoerotic session, only to shift back and forth between fourth wall-breaking reactions of both the narrator and the protagonist, in a 68-minute film with three separate narrators and NUMEROUS confusing flashbacks-within-flashbacks containing said narrations.We also learn that hats make you bald.Ed Wood certainly outdid himself on this one. It was shot in four days and starred his idol Bela Lugosi, in one of his last roles, as the narrator who sits in a chair the entire time and sometimes does chemical experiments. Wood played Glen under the pseudonym Daniel Davis, and his girlfriend Dolores Fuller was cast as Barbara.Glen or Glenda is a hysterical and entertaining movie, that is until the storyline unexpectedly starts following Alan instead of Glen, about 55 minutes in. Alan's storyline is also over-the-top, but considerably more boring than Glen's, which is an absolute riot. The scenes with Bela Lugosi are pure gold.

For the 1950's Edward Wood was incredibly brave to make this movie about transvestites and sex change - dealing with two taboo subjects. It was made with real passion by someone who understood the issue, but it can be quite off the wall and dull, but its a hell of a lot more intelligent than a lot of the rubbish made today and costing millions of dollars to make. The opening message of Glen or Glenda reminds me of the opening message of Tod Browning's classic 1932 horror film Freaks. The first part of the film begins with a narrator (Bela Lugosi) making cryptic comments about humanity. In a way, Bela Lugosi plays the creator, watching the people moving by their own, making their own decisions. "Pull the Strings' meant everyone (puppeteer) is the master of their own destiny (puppets), by pulling the strings so as to control your destiny and bring it wherever you want it to be. These theological ruminations Ed Wood gives us are right up there with Ingmar Bergman's greatest films on the purpose of life and faith in our world. Edward Wood wanted to keep it open to religions who don't believe in the commonly accepted "God", or do not call their god(s) "God". "The Creator" is an umbrella term that doesn't offend any particular religion or belief set, nor does it truly suggest religion in the first place ("The Creator" could be anybody or anything). This way, he doesn't directly accuse religion for people not accepting transsexualism and transvestism, rather he accuses people's stubbornness. The Bela Lugosi portions of the movie seem like such an afterthought to the central story, which is too bad considering that they are also the most compelling. He put Bela in the film, because, at the time, the old man was sick, addicted to drugs, and badly in need of money, and he loved Lugosi so he tried to help him whenever he could. Sadly Bela wasn't in any shape to memorize the ingredients for an ice cube, let alone a movie script, even a bad one. The lines were feed to him, but some lines still didn't match what was being produce half of the scenes (Bisons running around in stock-footage is a example). Maybe a example of not being trampled by life or others. Another one is 'The Dragon at the doorstep' is maybe the mockery, people must fight against to be what he wants to be. Puppy dog tails and big fat snails are the transvestites of the world getting eaten (destroyed) by the Dragon, (mockery from people). The examples of people excuse for sex change, intro-cut with having cars and planes are just out there. This film has artistic merit to it with those lines. With Bela on film, the audience has a hard time figuring out who is the true narrator, due to another narrator later in the film. So it's felt like a story within a story. This part seem like a horror film, while the rest of the film seems like one of those "better ways towards clean living" type of short films made in the fifties that they showed to kids in school, only instead of promoting personal hygiene, this one is showing you how to justify your life as a transvestite.The film proper opens with Inspector Warren finding the corpse of a male transvestite named Patrick/Patricia, who has committed suicide. Wanting to know more about cross-dressing, Warren seeks out Dr. Alton, who narrates for him the story of Glen/Glenda and the viewers. Ed Wood himself was a transvestite playing Glen under the pseudonym 'Daniel Davis'. Glen is shown studying women's clothes in a shop window. Dr. Alton points out that men's clothes are dull and restrictive, whereas women can adorn themselves with attractive clothing with outrageous/ bizarre claims. Women's clothes comfy? In the days of the Iron Bra and the panty girdle? Glen is getting married to Barbara (Ed's real life girlfriend Dolores Fuller) who questioning if Glen is with another woman. Glen is being force to admit to Barbara about his wanting to wear women clothing. A bizarre dream sequence, containing some BDSM pornography, follows with Satan. Not really need. It ruins the film. Glen then decides to tell Barbara the truth. She proffers her angora sweater as a sign of acceptance. The second part of the story about Alan/ Annie is a letdown, not worth noting. The acting is quite poor, with different actors you can spot Ed Wood's trademark dialogue style.It's this type of pseudo-intellectual verbal non-stop talk that erupts from their mouths for no reason at all. Much like a person reading a book out-loud; there is an unnaturalness to it because we know, deep down in the depths of the human mind, that humans, such as us, do not talk like characters in a audio book. The random shots of things, like dramatic radiator are just odd to be in the film. Looking through the opening "credits," it included a "Music Consultant," rather than "composer," or "director." I have no idea what a "consultant" would be needed for, unless the music he used in this movie was canned or public domain. Found out it's the old theme song as the old Lassie TV show. The dub lines in post-production is funny. That phony "granny voice" is one thing that's laughable. Unfortunately the film doesn't broach the subject that gender Diaspora & transvestism aren't the same thing. Ed Wood who was probably a very nice man, but a not that good film maker. Working with what he had on a low budget, with a script he had to write in less than 2 days with production starting not long after- to say this was horrible is a understatement. It wasn't that bad. It actually seems pretty progressive for 1953. Rather watch a flaw film made with lots of enthusiasm than a mundane manufactured movie anyday. Just my opinion.