Glen or Glenda (1953) Reviews

Ed Wood he was regarded as one of the worst directors of all time he made movie outside hollywood and independently produced his own and stars in them he made westerns, crime, and in his later years pornography but were gonna talk about his monsters movie the first were gonna talk about Glen or Glenda? not really a horror movie but it is so f###ked up you can just call it one originally it was supposed to be a autobiography of Christine Jorgensen the first publicly known sex-change but cannot she has to turn it down so Ed Wood made it an autobiography of himself dressing in women's clothing. Ed Wood was able to cast to his idol Bela Lugosi who was the original Dracula around this time he was addicted to morphine and his career was going down hill but Ed was got him back on his feet he plays a god like character who narrate most of the movie he even does the white zombie hand thing obviously Ed Wood was a fan of. he mix up potion and stuff and give them so cryptic line some of the things he says doesn't make any sense "Beware of the Big Black Dragon creeping up on you" "Pull the string! Pull the string!" I don't know what the hell he's saying but it's good but their that's scene where you bulls running toward the scene. But it gets even weirder when it start out as a documentary with the native people then their the hallucination scene with people acting like idiots the devils and what the f##k kinda piece of twisted s##t is this!

Note: This is the earliest film review of mine which I still have. While my other early attempts make me cringe in how amateurish they are, this one I find has an appealing innocence to it, therefore I present it as I originally wrote it back in 2011.

 

I might sound insane, but I'm giving an Ed Wood movie a positive score from an artistic point of view. Glen or Glenda marked Wood's first film, which he not only written and directed but also starred in. The film was originally slated to be a biopic on Christine Jorgensen, the propriety of the first publicly known sex change operation (in this case from male to female) Wood, however, took over production and instead turned it into a film about his own transvestism.

 

Whether you're conservative or liberal on issue of cross-dressing and trans-sexuality, Glen Or Glenda manages to do something which I've seen many sacred cows fail to do, create emotional interest in its main characters, and succeeds to raise question on what it means to be normal, with an issue which is just as relevant today as it was in 1953.

 

The movie's production values are surprisingly good for a film of this calibre. The surreal dream-like sequence in the 2nd half of the movie features some impressive filmmaking techniques and manages to engage you in the character's descent into insanity. Even the film's acting is decent, certainly better than in the likes of Plan 9 from Outer Space.

 

Lugosi's character is widely regarded to be a scientist representing God. At first, I didn't understand the character's role in the movie (plus the use of the stock of footage is completely random). However, I was impressed with how his catchphrase which he utters throughout the course of the movie actually finds its way to having relevance with the plot.

 

I'm not the type of person who over analyzes movies looking for their deeper meaning, but in Glen or Glenda it really came through quite obviously and did leave an impression on me, as well as changing my opinions on Wood as a director. I can defiantly sense Ed Wood put a lot legitimate feeling into this movie, and certainly comes through in the finished product.

"Beware! Beware of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep. He eats little boys... Puppy dog tails, and BIG FAT SNAILS... Beware... Take care... Beware!"

Glen or Glenda is the first movie by the world's worst director (of that time, that is) and has been hailed by many as the worst movie of all time.

Imaginative "docu-fantasy" has an interesting premise of examining cross-dressing transvestites...but it's Ed's horrible directing, terrible screenwriting, and above all the actor's appalling performances that made this film such a turkey.

Ed Wood stars (under the name of Daniel Davis) as a heterosexual transvestite who is trying to find the right time to reveal to his fiancée Barbara (Fuller) that he enjoys wearing women's clothing, and has been longing to wear her sweater.

The titles at the beginning, revealing that the film features some people who are actually transvestites, is very true for director Ed Wood as he plays a transvestite and was in reality a transvestite (as revealed in Tim Burton's much loved film Ed Wood).

The film examines traits of transvestites, and is narrated appallingly by Bela Lugosi. The use of terribly executed dream sequences (that are long, drawn out, boring, and unnecessary) and stock footage (that is obviously repeated more than once) adds to the already dismal movie...but it's so funny and must be seen to be believed.

The performances (every single one) are played out straight, but the actors are just saying lines without any degree of realism or tension, and they are seemingly played out for laughs.

And as for Bela Lugosi...well his career was long dead before he decided to star in this turkey. His use of the word "Bevare!" on many occasions would be warning enough to the viewing audience who decided to watch this flick.

Overall, Glen or Glenda is just plain appalling and is good for nothing than a few laughs. Sure, the premise is interesting and it reveals some worthwhile information...but the script, directing and acting are all as shocking as the facts revealed.