Ed Wood (1994) — Read Along
Can your heart stand the shocking facts of the true story of Edward D. Wood Jr?”
“Greetings, my friends! You are interested in the unknown. The mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here. And now, for the first time, we are bringing you the full story of what happened. We are giving you all the evidence based only on the secret testimony of the miserable souls who survived this terrifying ordeal. The incidents, places. My friends, we cannot keep this a secret any longer. Can your heart stand the shocking facts of the true story of Edward D. Wood Jr.?”
I had zero knowledge of Edward D Wood prior to watching this film. I had equally little knowledge of Bela Lugosi aside from being aware of his iconic portrayals of Dracula. It’s a strangely bizarre film, a homage to Ed Wood more than a biopic, funny and heart breaking, and will almost certainly charm you. Amusing in parts, very funny in others, but it’s Burton’s love and admiration for the filmmaker that shines through. Special praise for long time costume design collaborator Colleen Atwood should be made, so too Howard Shore for the sublime musical and orchestral score. Another Tim Burton film to secure Oscar nominations and wins, again for Best Make Up (Ve Neill again alongside Yolanda Toussieng and Rick Baker) and for Martin Landau in a wonderful performance as Bela Lugosi and fully deserving of his win.
Shot in Black and White and set in the early 1950’s at the start of Ed Wood’s (Johnny Depp) film-making career, Tim Burton saturates this homage to Wood and 1950’s cinema. Main Scenes and Acts dissolve into each other and the interplay and acting between actors is rooted in films of the period. It often feels as though you are watching a film about a film, about a film being made! And if you go with this premise you’re in a for a fun, if often bizarre and surreal time.
Ed Wood, a struggling writer and director is brilliantly brought to life by Depp. Perma smiled and idealistic, balancing so many original ideas for a movie yet seeking that “break”, Depp’s character performance is excellent. From the very first scene, standing backstage as his play is performed to a sparse crowd amid rain falling through holes in the roof into numerous buckets, Wood is totally oblivious to all of this as he mimes with perfection the lines he has written for his cast. This becomes a constant theme and Depp again excels. This opening scene also introduces the audience to two key players in the narrative and constant companions of Wood. “Bunny Breckinridge” assists Wood in his productions and Bill Murray is superb in a supporting role full of camp extremes! “Dolores Fuller” sees Sarah Jessica Parker on top form as Wood’s idealistic leading lady and long suffering girlfriend.
Since acknowledged as “the worst director of all time” in many circles and gaining a cult following in doing so, we follow Wood as he creates films such as “Glen or Glenda”, “Bride of the Atom” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space”, meeting a burgeoning cast of characters as we go. Jeffrey Jones as “Criswell” a local psychic and entertainer (and who also opens the film), Lisa Marie is brilliantly bizarre as TV host “Vampira”, Juliet Landau cameos as “Loretta King” and Patricia Arquette is excellent as “Kathy O’Hara”, but special mention must be reserved for George ‘The Animal’ Steele as “Tor Johnson”, a wrestler turned film star! However the film’s true star with a stand out and sublime performance falls to Martin Landau as “Bela Lugosi”. Rightly acclaimed with a deserved Oscar, it’s a character performance as high as I’ve seen. Again adding to the “film within a film, within a film…” aspect, Landau’s portrayal of Lugosi as a brash, arrogant loner figure soon melts into a loveable performance of endearment and of the joy of acting. Saved by Ed Wood on a number of occasions, the interplay between Depp and Landau is both excellent and affecting. The two also share many in jokes (some subtle) and some not so but still engagingly funny as when Lugosi, dressed as his iconic alter ego Dracula attempts to scare away children at Halloween! There’s also a lovely scene, seconds only of screen time, whereby you see Ed Wood and Lugosi watching one of his film’s on television, with a huge picture of Dracula hanging on the wall. Not subtle, but highly effective.
Be warned! It’s strange and bizarre, but heart warming and charming too. It may leave you with a huge smile on your face at the end, which is apt considering the constant forced smile of Depp’s Ed Wood.
My second favourite Tim Burton film and an all time classic.
Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.
I've been a fan of Martin Landau since Space 1999. He was simply amazing in Ed Wood. You can tell it was a true labour of love, and not just from him, but from a whole bunch of the cast and crew. What Burton gets right in this one is that a movie with no budget, minimal talent, and a real vision, is always superior to a film with a budget, big talent, and no vision.
that was quite a good film I remember