Is Glen or Glenda the worst film ever made? Hard to say--I haven't seen every film ever made. But still, if I had to name a film which was a good contender for that title, it might well be this one. In virtually every way, it is dreadful. Taking one aspect of the film at a time, from the acting to the script to the sets to the costumes to the hairstyles to the lighting to the sound to the special effects and on and on, one is as bad (or worse) then the next. Just an all around awful, dreadful film. That it ever got made and distributed is amazing. The mind boggles that no one put a stop to it in time.
Yet--it is a film that is bad in the right way. The way a bad film SHOULD be bad. Not in the wrong way. A film that is bad in the wrong way is simply gross or vile. Rather than sitting and laughing, we head for the exit or write letters to our congressmen about how terrible Hollywood has become. A "wrong" bad film is one we don't want our children to see. A "right" bad film is one we'd love them to see, if only to share a good laugh with them.
I wouldn't mind it if my child saw Glen or Glenda. I'd hope she'd have the good taste to laugh her head off, as I did.
Now, for the plot (such as it is). Glen is a transvestite. He is in love with Barbara. Glen can't tell Barbara. Should he or shouldn't he? He agonizes over telling her. Finally he does. She understands. All is well. There! That's the plot.
Now that that little bit of business is over, we can go into the important details. One odd thing about this film is that it is, in many ways, virtually surrealistic. It is my opinion that Ed Wood, as awful as his films are for 1950s Hollywood, he would have been considered a master of 1920s and early 30s surrealism. Some scenes in Glen or Glenda are as bizarre as anything I've ever seen in a foreign film festival. Anyone who can explain Glen's major weirdo dream sequence to me deserves an award!
As I said, every aspect of this film is awful. But still, I will give it one compliment. It is a sincere film. I think that Ed Wood meant every silly line he wrote for this film. After seeing one slick, shallow Hollywood blockbuster after another, seeing a film which the director so clearly meant and cared about is almost refreshing. Even if that film is Glen or Glenda.
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