Glen or Glenda
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Movie Reviews of Glen or Glenda
Movie Review: Insanity as Art - Documentary as B-Horror Movie
Summary: 4 Stars
What makes Glen or Glenda a bad film is the mind of its maker. There can be no more direct and incendiary case made against the madness that is cross-dressing. The problem is not that people do it or that they enjoy it, but that they need to justify it to the rest of the world. This basic flaw inhabited Ed Wood's entire career and destroyed him. You can see it time and time again in his other films, but none more clearly than this plaintive cry for help. Its sad and stupid at the same time. What makes it sad is to see someone's private life twisted inside out into something that is suppose to be art. With the release of Tim Burton's Ed Wood on DVD (a genius film) there will be renewed interest in this man. But, let's remember, he died broke, alcoholic, making pornography, and a sad sad laughing stock. Ed Wood wasn't just the worst director of all time, he might have also been one of the world's most misguided and deluded people as well. Watch Glen or Glenda and laugh, but you will also feel a sad for this twisted wreck.Movie Review: cult classic??
Summary: 4 Stars
not the best film ever made and probably only bought and viewed by fans of ed,still quite a brave subject to explore on celluloid and ed obviously had his heart in this flick;not must see material but a curiosity none the less,good transfer as well!Movie Review: Dressed For The Occasion
Summary: 3 Stars
"Glen or Glenda" is a one-of-a-kind movie. Not what I call good or bad, just one-of-a-kind. I had my first exposure with Ed Wood on films such as "Bride of the Monster" and "Plan 9 From Outer Space", but never did I see his earliest film until now. This is definitely his most personal work, as well as his most bizarre.
The movie deals with the complications of accepting one's odd behavior among a prejudice society, the odd behavior being one's desire to wear women's clothing. Bela Lugosi narrated in an unorthodox fashion, making vague and unrelated comments that mostly don't make any sense (but he sounded cool saying them) as well as being the initiator of one's desires. Within the story, it introduced a counselor who thinks this is an educational video, because he sure enunciated all of the basic details about homosexuals, transvestites, and the differences between them. He discussed with a detective about the tragedy of one cross-dresser, and then he introduced the central character, Glen (or Glenda). Glen's about to get marriage, but he didn't tell his fiancé about his other self. He feared that his pleasure in wearing dresses might compromise their relationship, but he can't hide it forever. Thus, it became a challenge for Glen to reveal his idiosyncratic behavior.
The movie was simple enough in fleshing out Glen and his inner trials...up until the movie reached the 40-minute mark. And then for the next 10 minutes, "Glen or Glenda" went totally crazy with all the suggestive and confusing imagery. It's a good thing I had some experience with feature-length metaphorical nightmares, so I got the handle on metaphors enough to make a personal interpretation on what this screwy sequence entailed. The attractive yet hefty woman dancing around reflects Glen exposing his wild self. The same woman committing BDSM on a random woman reflects Glen having full control of his particular self, as well as proving he has just as much strength in his femininity as any woman. The narrator (Lugosi) watched these scenes in a straight face, perceiving everything that Glen tried to hide. The 'Big Green Dragon' that the narrator mentioned is only a name, not a description, for the satanic being who's haunting Glen; technically, he has red skin, but that name only reflects simple irony in association with Glen's gender-bender desires. The civilians were pointing fingers at him with great shame, leading to what he thought was a metempsychosis, but the Dragon tricked him and the 'judges' continued to point their fingers, bringing Glen to face his inhibitions. Finally, as for the puppy dog tails and the snails...I guess Ed Wood was hungry.
I have to say, that was a pretty clever sequence. Either that, or I haven't a clue as to what went on; sometimes, I can't tell what Ed Wood's really thinking. But when it comes to the technical aspects of the film, he's an easy read. This is patented Ed Wood material: the stages and sets are notably cheap (love the notecard glued on top of a real newspaper heading), it's poorly edited, the actors are stiff and has lousy delivery, and there's a lot of obvious padding during transitions. Simply put, this movie is really, REALLY atrociously made. No surprise here from the publicly-viewed worst filmmaker of the golden age of cinema.
If one were to judge only by the production values of the film, then yes, "Glen or Glenda" is awful. But once I look away all the technical atrocities and focusing on the core of the film, I kinda have to admire it. Ed Wood had ambition, and he showed it in this film. He didn't show it well, and just to nitpick, the film could've been more complete had it removed the subplot with the hermaphrodite named Allen, but the film is definitely bold and unique. That is more than I can say about the cop-out sequels, cheap knock-offs and soulless products after it, and with that, I approve Ed Wood for making an effort Or at least tried.
Movie Review: If you think you've seen bad movies.... Beware.... Beware...
Summary: 3 Stars
As a connoisseur of cult/bizarre films, I've seen some bad movies. If they're interesting enough, bad movies can be incredibly entertaining (i.e. Mystery Science Theater 3000). Even being familiar with Edward D. Wood's work (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Bride of the Monster) did not prepare for the experience of viewing his debut film, Glen or Glenda. Partially based on Wood's own life, the film was a serious attempt to dramatize the lifestyle of a man who is compelled to wear women's clothing. A disclaimer at the beginning proclaims it a film of "stark realism". What follows is 80 minutes of cinematic ineptitude, the likes of which I have never seen. There are plenty of bad films, but this movie is in a class by itself! Even Ed Wood's "classic" Plan 9 From Outer Space, often called the worst movie of all time, looks great in comparison to Glen or Glenda.The film follows (occasionally) a man named Glen (Wood himself) who likes to wear women's clothing. He is engaged to a girl named Barbara (Dolores Fuller, Wood's girlfriend), but is distraught over whether to reveal his secret to her.
Wood's attempt at "stark realism" is destroyed immediately as soon as we see Bela Lugosi in a chair spouting incoherent nonsense ("Pull de string!", "Beware of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep. He eats little boys, puppy-dog tails and big fat snails".)
Half the film consists of random stock footage that has no relevance to the material whatsoever. No to mention the absurd dream sequence that, I think, is supposed to represent Glen's confused state of mind, but it really makes no sense at all. It features half-clothed women dancing around for no reason, a torture scene (!!) and even an appearance by the devil (!!!). By this point, the audience is scratching their heads and wondering what the heck is going on. It really must be seen to be believed.
For fans of the director's work, Glen or Glenda is a must-see. Even though it's unbelievably terrible, the film is not without entertainment value. It has many laugh-out-loud moments, and the film overall is so bizarre that is should not be missed by cult movie fanatics.
Movie Review: It's rubbish but entertainingly so
Summary: 3 Stars
Normally I'd give films 1 or 2 for something that was terrible and that I didn't like. Ed Wood however is an exception. His films are bad but so bad they're good. Basically I could tell you all of what the other reviewers have said here. But I won't other than to say that I got this DVD really cheap in Tower Records ( ?6 ) and I can say that this really was cheap entertainment. Lugosi's role in this is somewhat silly given that the film doesn't know whether it wants to be a genuine film or a shockumentary! And in some ways that's part of it's charm while it harms the whole process. It gives Lugosi the chance to spew wannabe crypto mumbo jumbo. In a way, he doesn't really " pull ze strings " so much as cut them off from him.But give credit to Ed on this. This was a genuine attempt at trying to be risque and his heart was really in this and you can tell that - it just didn't translate as well as it could have. His real life fiance Dolores is in this and well.....she's not exactly a great actress. But in some ways the script is just embarassingly naive on Ed's part that in some ways you just can't really believe in it at all no matter how much heart was put into this.
Another thing you'll notice is the dubbing and it is pretty poor. There's a clear 1 and a half second delay on everyone's speech which can be amusing. In fact some people will be in hysterics and just take the piss out of it
But god bless Ed - he tried, honestly he tried