Glen Or Glenda
"Beware
... beware! Beware of the big green dragon That sits on your doorstep.
He eats little boys ... Puppy dog tails, and big, fat snails. Beware,
take care .... beware! "
Now we understand where David Lynch took inspiration for his films
dreamlike and introspective. We now understand some of the characters
of Stanley Kubrick, but we never thought that the two masters of the
cinema were so liked to the legendary Ed Wood and his "Glen Or Glenda".
Fans of the two directors will be offended now. Quiet we are joking.
Even if in fact this 1953 film is introspective, dreamy,
incomprehensible and strange. The point is, that is so dazed for a
number of circumstances, in Ed Wood style that made it so.
"Glen Or Glenda" now in the public domain is visible at the bottom of
this post or can be downloaded from the internet archive and we
strongly recommend to see it three times to begin to understand
something. And still not be enough.
The genesis of this Ed Wood's movie is widely discussed in the
famous film by Tim Burton and starts on a true story. In 1952 George
William Jorgensen, Jr., became one of the first in the world, Christine
Jorgensen, and the New York Daily News caught the the thing to publish
his story on the front page. "Ex-GI Becomes blond beauty."
This true story attracted the attention of producer George Weiss who
began to think of a film on the subject. Ed Wood became aware of the
project and was able to convince the producer to be the best person,
despite the little fame, to direct this movie, having regard to his
ability to cross-dressing.
Only once got the job, Ed Wood, shifted the focus of the story from sex
change to transvestism. As if that were not enough, the moral of "Glen
Or Glenda" is tolerance, right thing, but certainly strong in
those days.
And here we are with the film that runs in front of our eyes. A series
of stylistic choices pile up at random and to put it looks like a good
"cut-up". Let's just say that it is.
We met a Bela Lugosi, drug addicted and out from the scene for a long,
that introduces the story in a kind mad scientist's lab, then tossing
it with a "Began and the life." Following explosion. Lugosi is great,
but he really tell anything useful and above all the narrators are two
other. Dr. Alton and Inspector Warren.
The suicide of Patrick/Patricia causes the cop to ask for advice to Dr. Alton, who tells him the story of Glen/Glenda.
Glen, Ed Wood himself, however, credited as Daniel Davis, loves dresses
and loves to dress up. An autobiographical fact. He is tormented
because he can't decide if he must or not tell the truth to his
girlfriend Barbara, played by Dolores Fuller Wood's real girlfriend at
the time..
The devil appeared to him in a dream and torments him. The people in
the storm's worst nightmares. Bela Lugosi spoke again, for no apparent
reason, with a herd of buffalo overlay and exclaimed several times,
"Pull the string! Pull the string! A mistake is made. A story must be
told! "And especially the beautiful phrase" Beware ... beware! Beware
of the big green dragon That sits on your doorstep. He eats little boys
... Puppy dog tails, and big, fat snails. Beware, take care ....
beware. "
And to this follows a tending to lesbian bondage scene with sexy women,
whipping on a couch in a dark room. Everything pushes Glen/Glenda to
make outing to his girlfriend hyper progressive who accepts
everything willingly. End of Part One. First part, we said, because
there is also a second.
Here we talk about Alan, a former decorated soldier and hermaphrodite,
that after the Second World War realizes that he is a mistake of nature
and undergoes sex change operation. It 'pretty clear that this second
story is stuck to the first.
In fact, when finished, the production judged "Glen Or Glenda" too
short and added scenes and various pieces including the bondage scene.
Bela Lugosi as the best storytellers closes the film. Although he still
does not tell anything.
The film clearly doesn't met the approval of the producer, but was
released the same because it had already been sold prior to
implementation.
Dolores Fuller moves to record for being the only "victim" of the film,
being unaware of the plot and the foibles of her boyfriend, discovered
both watching the movie finished. She dropped her boyfriend
saying that she had never been so humiliated. Joking aside and utter
failure of good Wood, "Glen Or Glenda" is a film definitely advanced
for its time and while it has a way and a style all its own, Wood
examines important issues of the psyche and human foibles, even
criticizing society.
The rest is a classic "woodish" work bloopers in quantity, missing frame and minimal sets and reused. It 's wonderful.
To show it? They are found around different versions. On the original
line, while the version of the DVD is appreciated for the Fuller a bit
'nervous in the final scene and a tasty Wood, who disguised cries on
stage: "CUT".
Technical
Original title: Glen Or Glenda
Alternative titles: Louis Louise ou (Belgium and France), Yo Cambie me
sexo (Argentina and Spain), Glen or Glenda (Venezuela), Glen or Glenda:
Confessions of Ed Wood (undefined), Glen or Glenda? (USA) Glen ou
Glenda (Portugal) Glen ou Glenda? (Brazil), Glen tai Glenda (Finland),
He Or She, I Changed My Sex, The Transvestite (undefined) I Led 2 Lives
(Great Britain)
Year: 1953
Country: USA
Director: Ed Wood Jr
Duration: 65 '
Starring: Bela Lugosi, Lyle Talbot, Timothy Farrell, Dolores Fuller, Ed Wood
Production Company: Screen Classics Inc.