Cheap Deluxe Ed Wood Angora Box Set (Video) (Ed Wood) Price

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Customer Reviews of Deluxe Ed Wood Angora Box Set

Bless him, his heart was in the right place, but his brain must have been orbiting Pluto. (Where on earth did he get the idea that wearing hats makes men bald, anyway?) Wildly incongruous montage sequences, dialogue (and acting) that wouldn't pass muster in a junior-high school Christmas pageant, and Bela Lugosi's somber ranting make this film a unique experience, if nothing else. Add to that an out-of-nowhere sadomasochistic dream sequence set to frenetic violin music, and you're off on a chaotic (and scary) journey through Ed Wood's mind. At times, the trip has the morbid appeal one gets from viewing a train wreck.

So why do I love this film? Well, being a transsexual, I have to look for sympathy where I can find it, and Wood is indeed sympathetic in his own ham-fisted way. I could have done without the loopy psychoanalysis (featuring the most implausible movie shrink in history). Did Wood, a crossdresser himself, really think that the love of a good woman was all someone like him needed, or was he simply trying to make this mess more palatable to 1953 audiences? I get the feeling even HE wasn't sure.

An interesting side note--Wood was "inspired" to produce his magnum opus at the urging of grade-Z movie schlockmeister George Weiss, who wanted to cash in on Christine Jorgenson's recent sex change (but couldn't get Jorgenson to appear). Not to be outdone, Wood replaces Christine's story with the story of Glen, a crossdresser about to be married, living in terror of what his fiancee might think if she knew his secret. Before we even get to this part of the story, we are treated to lengthy narration on the tightness and roughness of men's clothing. (Which makes me wonder how much time Wood really spent in women's clothes--he apparently never wore a bra for any length of time). In what was obviously a move to keep Weiss from strangling him, Wood does devote the last ten minutes or so of the film to an actual transsexual, (I think?) Alan/Ann. Miraculously, this is probably the most coherent part of the entire film, and does indeed give the audience a glimpse of what a transsexual must go through (it hasn't gotten that much easier in half a century).

Still, looking at this film, I'm not sure if it actually helped transgendered people--or set us back a decade or two.

Open your eyes and mind
Ed Wood's continuing reign as the so-called 'worst director of all time' has earned him many fans, but it has also done his work a disservice: few reviewers dare to go against the tide and write constructively about his movies, preferring instead to hop in the so-bad-it's-good bandwagon. This is unfortunate, because his most interesting films are worthy of critical scrutiny - especially his first project, 'Glen or Glenda' (1953). Whereas most of his other films tackle a specific genre, this movie creates its own: an unlikely but personal blend of documentary and fiction, horror, romance, police procedural, and more. There isn't a single storyline throughout but rather a set of imbricated tales that feed off of each other. The bulk of the narrative is devoted to a couple of case histories which are recounted by a psychiatrist to an inspector, but the film is frequently punctuated by Lugosi's enigmatic character. His 'Scientist' name, much like an early scene in which he prepares a potion, is a nod to his past roles: he is a Demiurge-like figure whose utterances often have anthropogonic connotations and can affect people's lives. Lugosi's performance in this film is quite underrated, and arguably one of his most effective. (He was not quite as memorable in Wood's subsequent 'Bride of the Monster' [1955].) To further complicate the narrative, one of the two case histories related by the psychiatrist - that of Wood himself - features an elaborate dream sequence whose images are suitably bizarre and full of strange symbols. The film always operates on multiple levels at once, since Wood constantly shifts between characters while using a proliferation of contrasting techniques (voice-over, documentary, fiction, stock footage, image juxtapositions, etc.). Some have deemed this cinematic cacophony confusing and/or confused, but I find it fascinating, and sometimes even mesmerizing - this is automatic, stream of consciousness filmmaking that remains stubbornly indifferent to conventions. I strongly recommend this film to adventurous cinephiles.

It's rubbish but entertainingly so
Normally I'd give films 1 or 2 for something that was terrible and that I didn't like. Ed Wood however is an exception. His films are bad but so bad they're good. Basically I could tell you all of what the other reviewers have said here. But I won't other than to say that I got this DVD really cheap in Tower Records ( €6 ) and I can say that this really was cheap entertainment. Lugosi's role in this is somewhat silly given that the film doesn't know whether it wants to be a genuine film or a shockumentary! And in some ways that's part of it's charm while it harms the whole process. It gives Lugosi the chance to spew wannabe crypto mumbo jumbo. In a way, he doesn't really " pull ze strings " so much as cut them off from him.

But give credit to Ed on this. This was a genuine attempt at trying to be risque and his heart was really in this and you can tell that - it just didn't translate as well as it could have. His real life fiance Dolores is in this and well.....she's not exactly a great actress. But in some ways the script is just embarassingly naive on Ed's part that in some ways you just can't really believe in it at all no matter how much heart was put into this.

Another thing you'll notice is the dubbing and it is pretty poor. There's a clear 1 and a half second delay on everyone's speech which can be amusing. In fact some people will be in hysterics and just take the piss out of it

But god bless Ed - he tried, honestly he tried