Ed Wood: Glen Or Glenda? (1953) Part 1 Of 7

Ed Wood's first "major" film. IT IS TERRIBLE it's one of those movies that are so bad that they are good. It has a bizarre story, bad acting, and strange dialogue. The movie does not have the same outrageousness such as Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) but still is hilarious.

The first part of the film begins with a narrator named The Scientist (Bela Lugosi) making cryptic comments about humanity. The film proper opens with Inspector Warren finding the corpse of a male transvestite named Patrick/Patricia, who has committed suicide. Wanting to know more about cross-dressing, Warren seeks out Dr. Alton, who narrates for him the story of Glen/Glenda. However, at several points Alton appears to address the viewer rather than Inspector Warren, and the unclear role of the Scientist as narrator makes things even more confusing. Glen is shown studying women's clothes in a shop window. Dr. Alton points out that men's clothes are dull and restrictive, whereas women can adorn themselves with attractive clothing. He also makes some more bizarre statements, such as that baldness is caused by hats. Glen reads about sex change operations in a newspaper, then meets with Barbara, his girlfriend, who asks if Glen's secret problem is another women.
The film then cuts to the (in)famous shot of the Scientist shouting "Pull the string!" as bison stampede onscreen. It is not clear what this is meant to mean; perhaps that Glen should act as puppeteer, controlling his own life instead of letting others dictate it. Another transvestite friend of his, John, tells Glen how cross-dressing ended his marriage. A bizarre dream sequence, containing some BDSM pornography, follows. Glen then decides to tell Barbara the truth. She proffers her angora sweater as a sign of acceptance.

The second part is much shorter, and was made to meet the distributor's demand for a sex change film. Alan is a pseudohermaphrodite who fights in the Second World War, wearing women's underwear. After his return, the Scientist (the only character to appear in both parts), turns Alan into "Anne", a woman, apparently through magical means.

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[murcielago06gt]

"We only have one life to live. We throw that one away, what is there left?"....as he lights up a cigar....

Watch this movie 15 times and you'll start to notice a lot of subtle messages. Ed Wood was a genius.

[BeemerLanding]

PULL THE STRING!

[rodgermourtagh]

OMG!!! I´ve just seen that movie with Johny Depp and it was so hilarious! So I thought I´ll check out if it was true and... god these films really exist! Just wow...

[jubox666]

@murcielago06gt lol there is nothing to notice its just in your mind... ed wood was just retarded...its simple as that

[AtheismCentral]

@murcielago06gt

LEAVE ED WOOD ALOOOOOOOOOOONE!

lol

[christchin018]

@virusu27 and I most certainly agree with you 

[TheJameslehr]

Anybody out there got any MST3Kisms they want to add? + Last line in this segment is great.

[whatisabercowich]

A story within a story within a story? That's the way I like it!

[shawnfella]

It takes a real genius to write dialogue this bad. I`m serious. This is hard to do on purpose.

The best bad dialogue comes from writers who think they are doing good work. It takes a rare genius to not let a profound lack of talent get in the way of producing a truly good bit of bad writing. This is the best bad writing I have ever heard. It is `worse`than stuff that is twice as bad. And that`s saying something.

[3dartistguy]

FREAK OR WERIDO...

[LukeLovesRose]

"With most jobs, there's always somebody that doesn't want that job to be done."

Has anyone in the history of mankind ever actually talked like that? Not to mention, a police detective?? LOL. Jesus.

[LukeLovesRose]

Can someone please explain how and why Bela is threatening and bitching at all of those pedestrians in the stock footage at the bottom of the screen?? Did he turn into a ghost? LOL. I guess only Ed Wood could tell us how this was SUPPOSED to work, huh?