Marynewcomb2013 You have to watch & understand Ed's movies from his point of view. He did have vision for his films but just never had the budget.

Benedict02 First off, Bela Lugosi has an eerily wonderful portrayal of the "Scientist" i was always left waiting for his next scene.The films score is fantastic, the music really helps set the scene, especially during silent scenes.Ed Wood has a very emotional portray of both sides of his character, the film is still relevant in today's society as Wood's beliefs are rarely found. His message is emotional at times and the film never fails to catch your attention or entertain.Certainly not Wood's best movie but one that has a more visible, deeper meaning.

TOMASBBloodhound Over half a century before Bruce Jenner decided to step out as a woman, Edward D. Wood Jr. came out with this daring, yet incompetently filmed would-be documentary about cross-dressing and sex changes. Wood, a notorious cross-dresser, insisted he was the perfect director for this subject, and with a budget smaller than the amount of change in a normal person's couch cushions, he sort of made a little movie about these themes. At just over an hour, this hodgepodge of stock footage, poorly written and acted scenes, odd fantasy sequences, and old Bela Lugosi rambling on about life and death is truly a finished product that defies a typical synopsis. "Pull the stringk!!" Lugosi shouts, and he theoretically represents some sort of a puppet master presiding over the human condition. Though Wood should be applauded for his courage in dealing with these subjects, one cannot forgive the incredible ineptitude with which this thing was thrown together. Some of its more interesting and racy moments were apparently thrown in post-production by the producer who obviously wasn't expecting any attempt at a thoughtful documentary from his director. The dramatic scenes deal with a young man (played by Wood under the pseudonym Daniel Davis) engaged to be married, but he's hiding a huge secret. The man loves to wear women's clothing, particularly angora sweaters! Should he tell his fiancée? How should he tell her? What if she doesn't want to marry a guy like that? The horrors! The scenes dealing directly with this plot make up about a third on the screen time. The biggest chunk of time has a doctor narrating about the differences between transvestites/homosexuals/hermaphrodites among many other things while at the same time explaining them to a police detective. It is in these scenes where some of the most laughable use of stock footage ever can be found. The funniest is perhaps where Wood has inserted footage of a steel mill and two off-screen blue collar types are talking about transsexuals while railroad rails are being forged out of molten steel and sparks are crashing all around! Other random shots of traffic and stampeding buffalo are thrown in. There is a suggestion that some random guy changing a light bulb in a rail yard might be wearing pink satin panties or something... hilarious!! The fantasy scenes go on for about 15 minutes, and make very little sense.Finally, we see the story of a WWII veteran who goes through a sex change. I'm sure they thought this was graphic back then, but its mostly a shot of doctors looking down at the patient while the narration explains in very general terms what is taking place. And the WWII veteran angle only gives Wood even more chances to throw in stock footage of soldiers in battle. The film's conclusion would probably not satisfy the militant LBGT (or is it LGBT?) community of today. It seems the doctor thinks and recommends that the young transvestite man can somehow be cured from his fetish, but I forgot how. Somehow his wife ends up taking the place of Glenda (his cross- dressing alter-ego) and they live happily ever after. Whatever. Anyway, give Wood some serious props for attempting to take a thoughtful look at trans-gender and transvestite issues at a time when they were probably only hinted at within the moldy pages of dime detective novels. 4 of 10 stars.The Hound

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- Glen or Glenda, 1953. An unusual suicide begins a police investigator's look into the world of transvestism, trans-gender, and hermaphroditism with a psychiatrist.*Special Stars- Bela Lugosi, Lyle Talbot, Dolores Fuller, Timothy Fuller. DIR: Edward D. Wood Jr.*Theme- Some people feel they are mistakes and need science to correct it.*Trivia/location/goofs- Auto biographical documentary on transvestism and hermaphroditism. B & W. Bela Lugosi was broke and a morphine addict at the time so readily took on a role in the film for which he allegedly was paid $5000. In reality, this figure was probably closer to $1000. Shot in just four days. The film was originally intended to be loosely based on the story of sex-change pioneer Christine Jorgensen. In March 1981, Paramount placed a full-page page ad in the New York Times announcing the reissue of Glen or Glenda (1953). Warren Beatty is purported to have sponsored its 1981 reissue by Paramount, while he was working there making Reds (1981). The film includes almost 14 minutes of stock footage, including the end credits, and 73 seconds that run concurrently with new footage of Bela Lugosi. The stock scenes include "Fake Lightning" (used 6 times), "Pedestrians" (3 times), "Highway Day" (3 times), "Highway Night" (twice), "Playground" (twice), "Superior Court" (twice), "Ridiculous Soft Core", "Natives", "Bison Stampede", "Parking Lot", "Steel Foundry", "WWII", "Ambulance", "Airplane", "Signalman", "Milkman", and "Girls with Fuzzy Hats or Sweaters." GOOFS- The headline on the newspaper at the beginning has clearly been taped on. The text accompanying the close-up of a newspaper story headlined "Man Nabbed Dressed As Girl" is a hodge-podge of unrelated paragraphs lifted from stories about tax reform, a prison injury, and faith healing.*Emotion- This phony documentary is a terrible mix of metaphysics(Lugosi role) and bad biology. Due to the huge press from Christine Jorgenson's sex surgery from a male to female, the film wrongfully and simplistically connects many gender issues and presents them in this faux erroneous documentary. Todays medical doctor's know more about such matters that openly contradict the message of this early film by a closeted transvestite film maker. The film features the famous Lugosi "pull the string" monologue featured in the Johnny Depp 'Ed Wood' biopic film. That scene is presented in a much different tone and context.*Based On- Edward D. Wood Jr. sexual life style and his thoughts.