The Silver Screen Oasis

Why put this bizarre Edward G. Wood cult favorite under Sci-Fi/Horror? Well...why not? How do you categorize this, one of the strangest, most talked about B features ever made? I had never rented the video. Never attended a midnight showing at The Music Box. But last night, it turned up on an unbelievably weird and unpredictable TV channel. I don't even know what it's called. And you know what? I liked it!

At its worst, this mind trip falls into the "so bad it's good" bracket. But I give it more credit than that. I'll go with "so whacked out, out of this world CRAZY" it's enthralling! The technical quality is raw. Production values atrocious. The acting, thank Heaven, is laughable. Competent players would have ruined this project. Presented more as documentary (instructional film?) than drama, the story tells of men who enjoy wearing women's clothes. As the narration sensitively points out, many of these men suffer at the hand of misunderstanding and prejudice. This is NOT a meaningless movie!

Glen is one such man. Engaged to Wood regular Dolores Fuller, he must either share his secret with her or live a lie. Which will it be? GLEN OR GLENDA? With lapses into the surreal, appearances by The Devil, and effective commentary by Bela Lugosi, the drama/psychology/nightmare unfolds with more substance than style. More guts than grace. It's not something I'll forget anytime soon.

Competent players would have ruined this project.

Wonderfully spirited review Red. I enjoyed it very much! Glad you liked the film. There are just some classics, you can't explain.

When I posted my comments, I didn't even know the title role was played by Wood himself. That is correct? He's billed as Daniel Davis. I've just read that's actually the director. "Plan 9" and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER are famously bad movies. JAIL BAIT? I'll let somebody else make that call. GLEN OR GLENDA is something else. Awkwardly good or brilliantly bad, it's a work that doesn't deserve ridicule. By far, the director's best film that I know of.

Well, it's extremely difficult for me not to jump into this specific topic as Dolores and her husband Philip Chamberlin were, to put it, my surrogate parents. Bless them both: They adopted me when I spent eight months with them in Vegas working with Dolores on her autobiography. Quite a time, I must admit. Both were truly Earth Angels, of a giving, generous spirit, even though I discovered there were many who attempted to take full advantage of that kindness and generosity. So much to say, which was recorded in the book: ranging from Dolores's early years, her early film career, meeting and relationship with Ed Wood, the post-Ed Wood years, her many amazing romantic relationships, her music career (songwriting for Elvis Presley, Nat King Cole and others) and her discovery and management of many talents, including Johnny Rivers and Tanya Tucker, etc. etc.

She had a career much beyond her connection with Ed Wood. Again, if anyone on this site may like to post a specific question, I'll do my best to answer.

David Steinberg said he liked GLEN OR GLENDA better than Tim Burton's biopic! I like them both.

Well, as for David Steinberg, all I can say is he hails from the North End of Winnipeg (where I was raised), so, speaking from experience, with that pedigree there's no accounting for taste.

On the other hand, the Burton biopic is one of my top ten faves - even if the impersonations of Dolores and Bela (Landau's wonderful performance notwithstanding) are pretty far off-base. Dolores's recollections of the latter-day Bela are much different than that portrayed on the screen.

Any comedian who begins a religious satire with the line, "Today I'd like to talk to you about God, who I'm sure you'll all remember from last week's sermon".