*****SPOILERS***** Obviously a self-portrait of director Edward D. Wood Jr. strange life in and out of Hollywood. With Wood playing the title character in the movie Glen/Glenda. Originally titled" I led 2 Lives".
The movie starts with Bela Lugosi sitting in a laboratory and telling the theater audience about the mysteries of nature and creation as well as life and death and that nature, as perfect as it is, also makes mistakes.
Mixing some chemicals Bela gets what looks like a full head on a mug after you pored a bottle of beer in it and his eyes light up and he says triumphantly "A life has begun!" Then we see a big city and as the camera focuses in on a room where there's the body of a woman who committed suicide we hear Bela, off camera, sadly says "A life is ended".
It turns out that the dead woman is a transvestite who was arrested four times for wearing womens clothing and couldn't take being arrested anymore. Since as he wrote in his suicide note "That he'd rather be dead in womens cloths then have to live without wearing them". Police inspector Warren, Lyle Talbot, who handled the case of the transvestite was so shook up over it that a few days later he went to a psychiatrist Dr. Alton, Timothy Farrell, just to settle down his nerves from seeing what he did.
Dr. Alton tells Inspector Warren a long story about someone that he treated recently who had the same problem that the unfortunate transvestite had but with a happy ending. Glen, Ed Wood, is a man engaged to Babara, Dolores Fuller, but has a deep secret that he's afraid that if he told her it would destroy their relationship and he would lose her. Glen seems to be more in love with Barbara's angora sweater then he is with her.
Dr Alton goes on to explain how Glen is a transvestite and what he does to satisfy his yearnings is to wear womens cloths. Dr. Alton goes on saying that to cure Glen of his obsession was for Barbara to except Glen for what he is after Glen confessed to her. Barbara, after taking a few minutes to absorb all that Glen told her tells Glen "I don't understand all of this but maybe together we can work it out".
We see Dr. Alton telling this story to Inspector Warren in a long weird surrealistic like strip show. We see women appearing on screen in all sorts of dress and undress scenes as well as Bela Lugosi popping up every now and then, mostly off camera. Bela Logosi keeps the audience entertained with saying things like " A story must be told" and "Pull the string" and for some reason that I can't figure out we see a herd of stampeding wild buffalo's in the background.
Lugosi starts to get even more ridiculous as the movie rolls on with sayings that make no sense at all in light of the story that were seeing like "Dragon tell me, do you eat little boys and puppy dogs tails and big fat snails?". So after Dr. Alton's treatment Glen was completely cured of being Glenda by transferring Glenda, Glen's alter-ego, to Barbara but most of all having Barbara except Glen for what he is, a transvestite. With Barbara allowing Glen to wear her cloths both her and Glen can now live happily ever after. As the movie draws to a close Dr. Alton and almost in cadence Bela Lugosi end the it saying sadly that there are other transvestites like Glen who's stories don't have that same happy ending; and just how many more are there? just how many more are there?
What can one say after seeing a movie like this! your left speechless. You have to give Ed Wood credit for not only making "Glen or Glenda" as well as staring in it with an added attraction at the conclusion of the film of the then,in 1952-53, sensational story about the Christine Jorgesen sex-change operation, that was making headline news all over the world. The biggest surprise of all in regard to the movie is how on earth did Wood ever get it passed the ultra-prudish Hayes Commission back in 1953? That in itself ranks as one of the great accomplishments in motion picture history.
The movie starts with Bela Lugosi sitting in a laboratory and telling the theater audience about the mysteries of nature and creation as well as life and death and that nature, as perfect as it is, also makes mistakes.
Mixing some chemicals Bela gets what looks like a full head on a mug after you pored a bottle of beer in it and his eyes light up and he says triumphantly "A life has begun!" Then we see a big city and as the camera focuses in on a room where there's the body of a woman who committed suicide we hear Bela, off camera, sadly says "A life is ended".
It turns out that the dead woman is a transvestite who was arrested four times for wearing womens clothing and couldn't take being arrested anymore. Since as he wrote in his suicide note "That he'd rather be dead in womens cloths then have to live without wearing them". Police inspector Warren, Lyle Talbot, who handled the case of the transvestite was so shook up over it that a few days later he went to a psychiatrist Dr. Alton, Timothy Farrell, just to settle down his nerves from seeing what he did.
Dr. Alton tells Inspector Warren a long story about someone that he treated recently who had the same problem that the unfortunate transvestite had but with a happy ending. Glen, Ed Wood, is a man engaged to Babara, Dolores Fuller, but has a deep secret that he's afraid that if he told her it would destroy their relationship and he would lose her. Glen seems to be more in love with Barbara's angora sweater then he is with her.
Dr Alton goes on to explain how Glen is a transvestite and what he does to satisfy his yearnings is to wear womens cloths. Dr. Alton goes on saying that to cure Glen of his obsession was for Barbara to except Glen for what he is after Glen confessed to her. Barbara, after taking a few minutes to absorb all that Glen told her tells Glen "I don't understand all of this but maybe together we can work it out".
We see Dr. Alton telling this story to Inspector Warren in a long weird surrealistic like strip show. We see women appearing on screen in all sorts of dress and undress scenes as well as Bela Lugosi popping up every now and then, mostly off camera. Bela Logosi keeps the audience entertained with saying things like " A story must be told" and "Pull the string" and for some reason that I can't figure out we see a herd of stampeding wild buffalo's in the background.
Lugosi starts to get even more ridiculous as the movie rolls on with sayings that make no sense at all in light of the story that were seeing like "Dragon tell me, do you eat little boys and puppy dogs tails and big fat snails?". So after Dr. Alton's treatment Glen was completely cured of being Glenda by transferring Glenda, Glen's alter-ego, to Barbara but most of all having Barbara except Glen for what he is, a transvestite. With Barbara allowing Glen to wear her cloths both her and Glen can now live happily ever after. As the movie draws to a close Dr. Alton and almost in cadence Bela Lugosi end the it saying sadly that there are other transvestites like Glen who's stories don't have that same happy ending; and just how many more are there? just how many more are there?
What can one say after seeing a movie like this! your left speechless. You have to give Ed Wood credit for not only making "Glen or Glenda" as well as staring in it with an added attraction at the conclusion of the film of the then,in 1952-53, sensational story about the Christine Jorgesen sex-change operation, that was making headline news all over the world. The biggest surprise of all in regard to the movie is how on earth did Wood ever get it passed the ultra-prudish Hayes Commission back in 1953? That in itself ranks as one of the great accomplishments in motion picture history.