Ed Wood, a film by well-known director Tim Burton, is a quirky comedy and biopic of another infamous filmmaker, Edward D. Wood Jr. Ed Wood earned his reputation primarily in the 1950s with a series of science fiction, crime and horror movies.
Edward Davis Wood Jr. was born 10 October 1924 and died on December 10, 1978. He grew up in Poughkeepsie, NY and joined the Marines in 1943 during World War II. He served in the South Pacific and at one point served in an intelligence unit. He received multiple wounds and, discharged in 1944, was awarded the Silver and Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts and a Sharpshooter’s Medal.
After his military service, he eventually moved to Los Angeles where he hoped to realize a dream to create films. He struggled to make a go of it in Hollywood until 1952 when he was able to make his first film.
In fact, he wrote, directed and starred in the film Glen or Glenda. A key to his opportunity to make this film was his recent acquaintance and budding relationship with a struggling actor, Bela Lugosi. Lugosi had been actively involved in films in the 1930s and 1940s, but was struggling in the 1950s. Wood convinced the producer to have Lugosi in the film and use his name to draw people to the film. Lugosi played a mad doctor.
The film revealed insight into Ed Wood as well. The story was about a man who believed he was a woman and underwent surgery. Though Ed Wood was heterosexual, he had been a cross-dresser for years. He told the story of wearing a bra and panties under his uniform while in battle in the South Pacific. He also professed a fondness for angora.
Unfortunately for Wood and the producer of the film, it did not do well at the box office. In fact, it highlighted the difficulties that would continue to appear in Ed Wood’s subsequent films — poor writing, poor direction, poor sets and poor performances. However, being the optimist that he was, Wood was convinced that his next film would be great.
During the fifties Wood made several films that share a similar fate including Jail Bait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1955) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957). They shared the same problems that were found in Glen or Glenda and received similar criticisms.
He continued to write and make various films, but suffered with a growing alcohol problem. In the 1960s Wood chose to focus on writing. He wrote over 80 crime and sex paperback novels as well as pieces for magazines and daily newspapers.
The end of his life was tragic as he had become a severe alcoholic, suffered health issues and was evicted from his apartment for not paying rent three days before his death.
His films became obscure until interest arose for them in the 1980s. In 1980, after his death, Wood was awarded the Golden Turkey Award for Worst Director of All Time. This award created a new interest in his films and they are now seen as cult classics.
In 1992 a biography of Ed Wood, written by Rudolph Grey, was published. The title was Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood Jr. It was from this biography that the screenplay was adapted for our Reel Classic — Ed Wood.
Ed Wood, released in 1994, has an outstanding cast.
Johnny Depp portrays Wood, Martin Landau is cast as Bela Lugosi, Sarah Jessica Parker and Patricia Arquette portray Wood’s love interests Dolores Fuller and Kathy O’Hara and Bill Murray has the role of John “Bunny” Breckinridge, Ed Wood’s drag queen friend.
The focus of the story is on the years he was involved in the making of films, essentially 1952–1958. Wood has just met and become friends with Bela Lugosi. Lugosi is struggling financially and emotionally at this period in his life. Wood convinces producer George Weiss, known for his exploitation films, to hire Lugosi to bring a big name to the cast.
It is also at this time when Wood divulges to his then girlfriend, Dolores, that he has a secret passion for wearing women’s clothing. She has some difficulty accepting this.
The film was considered a failure both at the box-office and by the critics. George Weiss was no longer interested in having Wood make any films for his studio.
So Wood decides to seek out independent financial backing. Thinking he has found a wealthy heiress, Loretta King, he offers her the lead role in the film but later learns that she has no money. A wealthy businessman agrees to back the film if his son is cast as the lead. The film, Bride of the Monster, also starred Bela Lugosi. It suffers the same fate as Glen or Glenda — both at the box-office and with critics. Dolores Fuller decides to break up with Wood.
Ed Wood is convinced that his next movie will be great. In the meantime, we learn that Lugosi has entered a rehab for addiction to morphine and, while Ed Wood is visiting him there, he meets his future wife Kathy O’Hara, who is visiting her father.
Wood works to get funding for his next venture from a local church and, after Lugosi’s discharge from the rehab center, begins to film scenes of him outside Lugosi’s home. The cast for the next film, Plan 9 from Outer Space, will include Bela Lugosi, Vampira (a local Los Angeles TV horror host), Tor Johnson (a Swedish professional wrestler), The Amazing Criswell (a psychic known for his inaccurate predictions) and Wood’s girlfriend’s chiropractor Dr. Tom Mason.
Dr. Mason was a stand-in for Lugosi who, unfortunately, died before the making of the film. Ever the optimist, Ed Wood was convinced that this would be his greatest film achievement, saying “This is the one I’ll be remembered for.”
That is likely very true though not necessarily for the reasons he had hoped.
When he was chosen to portray Bela Lugosi, Martin Landau threw himself into researching Lugosi, determined to portray his voice and mannerisms as faithfully as possible. He reportedly watched 35 Bela Lugosi movies and studied Hungarian language tapes.
Though he did not look like Lugosi, Landau wore makeup and special prosthetic devices for his ears, chin, nose and lips to make the appearance more accurate. This effort resulted in an Academy Award for Best Makeup. In actuality, Ed Wood was the winner of two Oscars — the second going to Martin Landau as Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Lugosi.
Martin Landau’s daughter, Juliet Landau, portrayed the not-so-rich heiress Loretta King.
The film did not achieve the success at the box office that was hoped for. It ended up losing money — earning nearly $14 million while costing $18 million.
However, the critics loved the film.
Film critic Roger Ebert wrote: “What Burton has made is a film which celebrates Wood more than it mocks him, and which celebrates, too, the zany spirit of the 1950s exploitation films, in which a great title, a has-been star, and a lurid ad campaign were enough to get bookings for some of the oddest films ever made.”
Gene Siskel described it as “a tribute to creative passion and also to friendship” and “one of the year’s very best.”
The critic for Rolling Stone magazine wrote, “Ed Wood is Burton’s most personal and provocative movie to date.... Outrageously disjointed and just as outrageously entertaining, the picture stands as a successful outsider’s tribute to a failed kindred spirit.”
The New York Times critic wrote, “Depp captures all the can-do optimism that kept Ed Wood going, thanks to an extremely funny ability to look at the silver lining of any cloud.”
Director Tim Burton has called it one of the best films he has made. Having read the biography Nightmare of Ecstasy and some of Ed Wood’s letters, Burton said that he was impressed by how Wood “wrote about his films as if he was making Citizen Kane, you know, whereas other people perceived them as, like, the worst movies ever.”
He also talked of how the relationship between Wood and Bela Lugosi impressed him, reminding him of his own relationship with Vincent Price. In an interview Burton once stated, “Meeting Vincent Price had an incredible impact on me, the same impact Ed must have felt meeting and working with his idol.”
Roger Ebert addresses that relationship between Wood and Lugosi: “At the heart of the movie is Wood’s friendship with Lugosi, a man he truly adores, and who comes to depend on him. We see Lugosi alone and lonely in a flimsy little tract house, inhabiting the deepening gloom of his obscurity and addiction (his first scene in the movie shows him trying on a coffin for size), and Wood is able to lift the gloom, if only briefly, in a final series of roles which gave him double immortality: As the star of some of the best horror movies ever made, and then some of the worst.”
The Internet Movie Database (IMDB) rates Ed Wood at 7.8 of 10. Rotten Tomatoes gives it a Critics’ Score of 92% and an Audience Score of 88%.
Never miss a thing with our FREE weekly newsletter.
I could find no free streaming sites and the Clark County Public Library does not have a copy on the shelf. They will obtain a copy if you ask.
In doing my research for this review I found that Tim Burton’s Ed Wood is now considered to be a cult classic. Interesting, isn’t it, that this particular cult classic is essentially a film about the maker of some of the most infamous cult classics from the 1950s.
Information for this Reel Classic review was gathered from sources including the IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and Wikipedia.
Ron Kibbey’s Comedy Classics
If you enjoy these classic movies, please join Ron on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 PM at the Clark County Public Library for “Ron Kibbey’s Comedy Classics.” The evening features a classic comedy film, usually accompanied by a vintage cartoon. Popcorn and drinks are provided. More information about the next film is available on the library’s website and Facebook page, as well as WinCity Voices Facebook page.
