Ed Wood (1994) (Movie Review)

    Ever sense I first watched 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” as a little kid, the name Tim Burton became one that I kept a close eye on, and over time I not only became a fan, but was determined to watch everyone of his films. One that surprisingly went under my radar for many years was his 1994 picture “Ed Wood”, which focused on the real life 1950’s director Edward D. Wood, Jr. … who was branded for making some of the worst movies ever made, and yet has endured over time as a B-Movie cult hero. I first learned of director Ed Wood way back when I was in a high school film class, and I watched some of his most famous stinkers … namely his 1959 Sci-Fi classic “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. It was a perfect time to be introduced to Tim Burtons “Ed Wood” picture, and needless to say, this is one of Burtons best movies. When watching Tim Burton’s films, there’s a day and night difference between the movies he was hired by a studio to direct, and his passion projects he pitched to a studio. “Ed Wood” is a clear passion project right from the heart of the director, and is a loving tribute to people with creative passions. While I wouldn’t call this one of my personal favorite movies, I absolutely would label “Ed Wood” as my personal favorite in the category of “movies about making movies”. It’s the one I’ve watched the most, influenced me the most, and one that I’d encourage anyone to check out.

   Set in the backdrop of 1950’s Hollywood, we follow the journey of the young writer Director Edward D. Wood Jr. as he follows his boundless passion for making movies. Unfortunately, he didn’t always have the time or money to make his dreams a reality, and thus he had to work supper fast and supper cheap. With the support of the formerly famous Bela Lugosi of “Dracula” fame, and a devoted cast and crew of show-business misfits who believe in Ed's off-kilter vision, the filmmaker was able to bring his oversize dreams to cinematic life … resulting in some of the most famous, B-grade pictures ever made. The movie fallows his behind-the-scenes miss-haps of his three most famous pictures … the 1953 bio-flick “Glen or Glenda”, his 1955 horror movie “Bride of the Monster”, and of course his legendary 1959 Sci-Fi stinker “Plan 9 from Outer Space”. It should quickly be noted that, despite fallowing a real-life director, there are some historical liberties taken to fit within Tim Burton’s quirky vision, and romanticized presentation. Despite not being a perfect historical retelling, this film is clearly coming from a place of love and affection for the real-life artist, and the exaggerations aren’t too outlandish to throw off the experience.      

    Aside from Burton’s inspired vision, the heart of this movie comes from a young Johnny Depp in the leading role of Ed Wood. This was before he become a famous Hollywood celebrity, and to date … I think it’s one of the greatest performances in his whole career. Of course, it got repetitive that for two decades, Johnny Depp became Tim Burton’s most frequent leading star … but in this film, Depp is perfect for the role, and should have gotten some Oscar recognition for it. The excitement on his face, the energy he displays, and the passion he conveys are absolutely infectious. Along with Depp’s performance, this is just a great character. Despite his quirky nature, this is a guy who playfully encourages the viewer to follow their passions, regardless of the opposition you may face. He’s the kind of guy who’s always excepting of the end result, because regardless of what others may think of his work … he spent his time working on something he was passionate for, and that’s all that matters. There’s a great scene in which Ed sits down at a dinner with legendary filmmaker Orson Wells, and the two have a poignant talk on how one man’s vision is worth fighting for ... which has always stuck with me. Maybe Ed’s direction was misguided, but in the director’s mind, he was living the dream, and following his creative vision to the letter ... and it’s hard to fault someone for that. Obviously, it’s great when an artist creates something that’s meant to appeal to the majority of viewers, but once in a while it’s healthy for a visionary to just make art for themselves.           

    Another strength to this film is a dynamite ensemble cast, most of whom became reoccurring talents in a number of Tim Burton productions. Sarah Jessica Parker, who was fresh off of “Hocus Pocus”, plays Ed Woods skeptical first wife, and has a flare being charismatic in her cynicism. Patricia Arquette is naturally lovable as Eddies second wife Kathy O’ Hara. Jeffrey Jones is a perfect match for playing the quirky TV psychic Criswell, as is Lisa Marie as horror host Vampira, and George Steele was perfect for portraying heavy weight boxing co-star Tor Johnson. Of course, Bill Murry is always a welcome presence, even in the small supporting role of Eddies close friend John Breckinridge. However, the big one who steals the show is Martin Landau in the role of horror movie legend Bela Lugosi. Straight to the point, this is one of the all-time greatest portrayals of a real-life actor put to film, and Martin Landau rightfully won the Academy Award for Best Supporting actor. At this time in the setting of the film, Bela Lugosi was addicted to drugs, his career was in the gutter, and he wasn’t expecting to live through the decade. Ed Wood however was a long-time fan of his iconic horror movie portrayals, and gave the struggling actor a chance to feel at home acting in his movies. There’s a great scene in which the two are sitting-down watching one of Lugosi’s early horror movies from 1932 titled “White Zombie”, and it’s not only a great bonding scene for the two, but we also see how Lugosi’s mannerisms became a direct influence in Eddies monster films.

   The look of the movie is also a loving recreation of 1950’s Hollywood, with a gorgeous Black and White pallet, and great attention to detail in replicating the sets from Ed Woods films. Even the replicated look of the characters is perfect, and Rick Backer also rightfully Won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. There’s also an effective use of music, which compliments the characters. Whenever there’s a positive moment with Ed Wood, it’s usually accompanied with the original score from 1953’s “Glen or Glenda”. Whenever it’s a dramatic moment with Bela Lugosi, we hear the “Swan Lake” music, which was featured in the opening of the 1931 “Dracula” classic. Speaking of music, it should be noted that Danny Elfman, who frequently composes the music in Burton’s films, didn’t compose the music for “Ed Wood”. Instead, this score was conducted by Howard Shore, who’s arguably most famous for the music he composed for the “Lord of the Rings” movies. Needless to say, this score is outstanding, and a loving nod to music ques of 1950’s Sci-Fi cinema. Of course, this brings me to my personal favorite scene of the whole film … the opening credits. Tim Burton is no stranger to featuring memorable opening credit sequences to his films, but I’d go so far as to label this opening to “Ed Wood” as my second favorite of his behind “Edward Scissorhands”. It begins with a creepy house in the middle of a stormy night (which is a nod to “Bride of the Monster”), followed by Criswell rising from a Coffin in the same style of Ed Woods early horror productions. The cast names are then presented as carvings in cheap looking grave stones, which is another loving nod to Ed Woods cheap productions. We then get a stop motion octopus, flying saucers, and Howard Shores background music once again is fantastic.     

   In the end, “Ed Wood” fits right in with Burtons strange style, and is arguably one of the most inspiring films of Tim Burton's career. There are hardships that come from making movies or pursuing passions, and this movie might just be the confidence boost you need to fallow your dreams, regardless of what the outcome might be. Not only is this movie a great influence on people who aspire to be filmmakers, but anyone pursuing a creative medium can find something to connect to in this film. It goes above typical Tim Burton flare, and I feel should have at least gotten a nomination at the Oscars for best picture. “Ed Wood” was a special discovery back in my high-school years, and it’s one well worth viewing, even if you’re not exactly a fan of Tim Burton’s style.

Thanks for reading my review of Tim Burton’s 1994 Bio-Pick drama “Ed Wood” … and continue to follow your passions … whatever they may be!    

Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) (Movie Review)

  

    Way back when I was just a young high school student, I attended film school, which covered a wide variety of different talents and filmmakers who’ve all left their mark in the history books of cinema. One name that stood out to me was writer and director Edward D. Wood Jr., who was branded as an anti-genius of sorts. He made some of the so-called worst movies ever, and yet has inspired generations of viewers to follow their dreams, and pursue their passions to make movies. Despite working in Hollywood, Ed Wood never had the money or resources to match the high ambitions of his movie ideas. 

As such, even though his films weren’t of high quality, he proved anyone with a passion and goal can still make a movie. His most famous picture is the 1959 Sci-Fi Horror classic titled “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, which is often described as the figurative “Citizen Kane” of bad movies. The film really peaked in popularity during the mid-80’s and early 90’s, largely thanks to the 1980 novel “The Golden Turkey Awards”, in which it was labeled as the worst movie of all time. Yet, even though it’s technically not a good movie, it’s never the less influenced young filmmakers, just like “Citizen Kane” did before. It’s actually kind of fascinating how often I read articles, in which fans place this among their favorite movies. While I personally can’t call this one of my favorites, I do find it a fascinating piece of film history, and one worth looking back on. 

    Ed Wood was clearly inspired by the great Sci-Fi’s of the early 1950’s when making “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, with the most obvious being Robert Wises 1951 classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Just like in that movie, the plot for “Plan 9 From Outer Space” revolves around human looking aliens who fear man-kinds atomic weaponry, and aim to invade our planet to prevent further wars. However, their methods are staggeringly inept, as simply flying their saucers through cities doesn’t accomplish anything. So, they enact another plan to raise two corpses from a single grave sight … which is apparently all they need to concur the planet. 

One of many details that always puzzled me was that the two resurrected bodies come back as vampires instead of zombies. We do eventually get a single zombie when the two vampires take out a privet detective. Together, they make a trio of ghouls who will enact the Martians intentions, and in the off chance they fail, they’re also working on a death ray that will wipe out humanity. Meanwhile, a group of locals band together to fight off both the alien invaders, and the resurrected ghouls. When describing this plot, it’s clear that Ed Wood wanted to create individual scenes inspired by either classic horror movies of the 30’s or alien invasion movies of the 50’s, and then the plot was created in an effort to weave these scenes together. The one consistent thing ties all these scenes together is an awkward narrator played by a TV psychic called The Amazing Criswell, who delivers hilarious dialog, with a flat delivery.  

   I first saw this movie when I was a youthful teenager, and I was actually disappointed that the movie wasn’t as funny as I was hoping it would be. Now there is admittedly a “so-bad-it’s-good” quality to the picture, but I don’t find it consistently entertaining either, in fact, there are some scenes that I find to be downright boring. However, it certainly has its moments, and they’re amusing details all throughout that are fun to point out. 

My favorite thing about this whole movie by far are the Martians themselves, as their sequences are so awkwardly staged I can’t help but be engaged. One of the Martian actors cares so little about his role that he doesn’t even bother hiding the scrip. There’s a moment when a gun malfunctions, and when the commander yells at his operatives to get the weapon under control, he looks directly down at a table, and is clearly following his lines off the script. The actress playing a female Martian always has this look of confusion, like she has no idea what’s going on or how to carry herself while on film. Then there’s the Martian commander who abruptly switches between passionate speeches, to acting like a juvenile kid. Of course, the flying saucers themselves are a thing of beauty to behold, as they resemble hubcaps held up by fishing wire. Supposedly they came from a hobby shop, they cast shadows on the backdrops, and the wires are visible more often than not. This movie also features what might just be the most ridiculous spaceship battle ever put to film, as it keeps cutting from stock-footage of military ships firing at the sky, to the unconvincing saucers dangling in front of a flat backdrop.       

    Slightly less fun for me however are all the horror related scenes with the three ghouls, even though there are still some amusing flubs, like the zombie get stuck rising from its grave, and a vampire adjusting his cape after getting shot. Still, these scenes are played more straight-faced, and when the ghouls actually appear on screen, they walk-about at a snail’s pace. The big zombie played by Tor Johnson has a very amusing face (which became a Halloween mask), and his presence makes this one of the very first Zombie movies … even predating “Night of the Living Dead”. The female vampire was played by TV horror host Des Vampira (Maila Nurmi), who’s look and appearance in the film has become somewhat iconic, and supposedly inspired the design of Morticia Adams from “The Adams Family”. She certainly looks cool, and I wish she was in a more serious horror movie, because I could easily see her as a classic Horror villain. She also has the most unexplained departure of any character in the film, as we never see what becomes of her, and there’s only a passing mention from one of the characters that she won’t be bothering them again.

    Of course, the most famous thing about this movie is that it’s labeled as the final appearance of horror movie legend Bela Lugosi, who achieved fame by playing “Dracula” in the 1931 original. During the 50’s, he and Ed Wood became close friends, and the ambitious director gave the struggling actor something to do in his final years. He filmed a number of shots of Lugosi in his Dracula attire, which was meant for another movie, but the actor sadly passed away. During the filming of Plan 9, he inserted all two minuets of Lugosi’s silent shots into the picture, gave him top billing, and had a stand-in during the remainder of the scenes who kept his face covered with a cape. The footage of the two actors don’t match at all, but what I find the most hilarious is the back story behind how Bela Lugosi’s character dies in the film. Apparently, he just casually walked away from his house one day, was run over by a car off-screen, and was then resurrected by the aliens as a vampire-zombie … it’s crazy. The cemetery setting has likewise become one of the most famous ever put to film, but for all the wrong reasons. We have gravestones that tip-over, and a mortuary that looks like it was made from construction paper. Day and night also switch drastically, and there’s just one amusing technical glitch after another.

     All in all, this a movie that’s going to impact viewers differently … some can be inspired by a man following his passion to make a movie, even if it turned out a mess. Others can watch this in the mind-set of “so-bad-it’s-good”, and a have a healthy laugh. Or if you’re a genera fan, you may want to view it just see this curious piece of film history. It’s not often when a bad movies is celebrated, but this film has a legacy, and a growing fan base all these years later. It’s even been colorized, which makes the flat backdrops stand out even more, as well as the different day and night shots that don’t match. For me, I take more inspiration from Tim Burton’s 1994 picture “Ed Wood” starring Johnny Depp, and told the story of what happened behind the creation of his movies, including Plan 9. Still, it’s cool that Ed Woods original turkey has both inspired and brought joy to so many viewers, and in the end … I think that’s what I like about it the most. There are other bad movies I enjoy more for their “so-bad-there-good” merits, but this one is still special in its unique way.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1959 Sci-Fi/Horror “Plan 9 From Outer Space” … and continue to enjoy whatever movies you Love!