Anyone who has ever enjoyed staying up late (or all night) watching B movies as a kid (or adult) has probably seen “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” It’s also likely you saw “Bride of the Monster,” and “Night of the Ghouls.” Even the masses who never bothered with B movies may be familiar with the name of the writer, director, and producer of movies that are so bad, they’re good due to Tim Burton taking an interest him. Burton’s biopic was probably seen by more viewers than Ed Wood ever had while he was alive, and it painted a warm, fuzzy picture of a guy whose talent could not catch up with his vision and who loved women—and their clothes.
Naturally, the truth about Ed Wood was more complicated than a two hour film could show, especially a film that cuts off after the premiere of “Plan 9 from Outer Space.”
He certainly wasn’t the greatest talent, but his labeling of the worst is certainly also incorrect. Take any director with almost no experience other than watching movies as a kid, and let them try to make one … on a budget that would even pay for doughnuts at a “regular” B movie … on the only soundstage he could get that everyone has to get their shots set up, done and moved out in 3 days! And then of course, the development. Rausch provides a welcome explanation for non-aficionado: most movies with night scenes were shot in daylight, and filters and development in the lab made it “nighttime.” A producer left instructions on his reels. If the lab didn’t read his instructions, you end up with the sudden night to day to night shots of several Wood movies. Any big producer would send them back and demand they be fixes. Ed Wood did not have this kind of clout. They would take what little development money he had, and maybe get some right. the discussion on these issues brings Ed Wood’s problems in focus for those of us viewing them through eyes used to everything from Harryhausen to CGI. Keep going, keep going, get what you can before studio security tells you to leave. Call it perfect to make your actors feel better—no one’s going to give them praise in the other bit parts they get stuck with.
The beginning with information about Wood’s technical and budgetary woes are only that. Following are detailed analyses and synopsis of each movie Wood made. And I mean every movie. The good (“Bride of the Monster”), the bad (“Orgy of the Dead”), the atrocious (any of the porn). The movie analyses include information on the complicated character that was Ed Wood. I don’t find it so completely out of character that a director who professed to hate porn turned to it when all other movie opportunities dried up (he also wrote some novels in the same vein), but it is curious that he appears to have had issues with gay people especially given his struggle to be accepted as a transvestite.
To wrap up are interviews with many of those who work frequently with Ed Wood. Many are quite fascinating and especially so was that of Brenda Fogarty who managed to be hilarious and impressive in the otherwise generic sex-romp “Beach Bunnies.” Her interview impressed me so much, I had to look up her one-woman show..