Ed Wood [Blu-ray] [2016]

Edward D Wood Jr is easily Hollywood's worst writer, producer, director by some considerable margin. Even by the terrible standards of fifties B movies, Mr Wood stands out as a paragon for making cheap exploitation trash. However his total lack of any talent whatsoever is made up for with boundless enthusiasm, an unshakeable faith in his own genius and his love for ladies Angora sweaters.When Ed meets, by sheer chance, a depressed and angry down on his luck Bela Lugosi, he over time befriends the old man and woos him into appearing in his latest “epic”. Lugosi's ill health and obvious drug addiction together with a lack of investors makes for a troubled and difficult production. Can he complete the picture, can Lugosi still act, will his very small crew rebel, can he get it distributed, will he be rightly hailed by his peers as a genius like his hero Orson Wells, will anyone even care? You'll have to watch to find out.Tim Burton's beautifully crafted and affectionate biopic of the incomparable Edward D Wood Jr, played by Depp, is a wonder of character development over style. Although shot in stunning high contrast black and white film stock the piece still feels warm and genuinely intimate somehow. Although the “Burton style” is pushed into the background, his directorial flair and authority is still there in abundance, even if the cartoonish mayhem generally associated with Burton is missing entirely. The principal players like Depp, Landau, Parker, Jones, Arquette and Bill Murray commit totally to their roles and are extremely funny and engaging. Although all six shine throughout the acting honours have to go to Martin Landau who won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and other awards for his magnificent portrayal of the bitter and drug addled former A list Hollywood star. All departments came up trumps in this fabulously entertaining tribute to fifties Hollywood film-makers.Made early in Burton's career after such triumphs as Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman and Batman Returns, Ed Wood is perhaps Burton's last truly great film. Winning two Oscars and garnering generally very good notices it still proved to offbeat for American audiences and did not do well at the box office.Short but fascinating bio's of the real people are included in the end credits, s s don't miss them. It's films like Ed Wood that make me love the movies.

“I’m in pictures,” says Ed, in the scene where he first meets his future-wife Kathy. “I’m a director, writer, actor and producer.”“Aw, come on. Nobody does all that,” she replies.“Oh yes, they do. Two people. Orson Welles and me.”‘Ed Wood’ is an excellent Tim Burton movie, from 1994, about the inept cult filmmaker Edward D. Wood jnr, focussing on a five-year period in his career (broadly speaking, ‘the Lugosi years’) - from Wood’s self-revealing study of transvestitism ‘Glen or Glenda’ to his most notorious sci-fi stinker ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’.One of the most entertaining things about Wood’s story is that we’re shown how, one-by-one, he happens to meet the assorted oddballs that he eventually gets to star in his movies: from drag queen Bunny Breckenridge (an amusing turn by Bill Murray), and Ed’s angora-sweater-wearing girlfriend Dolores (Sarah Jessica Parker), to crackpot ‘clairvoyant’ Criswell (Jeffrey Jones), burly Swedish wrestler Tor Johnson (played by George ‘the animal’ Steele), as well as blacklisted, buxom TV personality Vampira (brought to life, as it were, by Lisa Marie).Most important, though, is Wood’s chance encounter with washed-up, drug-addicted ‘Dracula’ star Bela Lugosi, and their touching friendship is at the heart of this fictionalized biopic. Martin Landau won an Oscar for his portrayal of Lugosi (in very clever Rick Baker make-up), while Wood himself is played with endearing, self-deluded enthusiasm by Johnny Depp. ( “Really? Worst film you ever saw? Well, my next one will be better.” )A good two-hours long, Burton’s movie won me over straightaway with its lively title sequence: the cast’s names engraved on tombstones, an animated tentacle and UFOs - all set to music featuring theremin and bongo drums (from a score by composer Howard Shore).Admirably, Disney-Touchstone (albeit with some reluctance) did allow Burton to make ‘Ed Wood’ in black-and-white, and the film looks lovingly authentic with its recreation of 1950s locations. Indeed, it begins (and ends) with a pan over an impressive model of Hollywood in a thunderstorm - Ironically, for a story set in the real world, its special effects are so much better than those in the sci-fi / horror movies that Edward D. Wood made.The DVD does ‘Ed Wood’ proud too, with an array of bonus features that include:a trailer, and a seven minute item about the theremin;‘Pie Plates over Hollywood’ - a thirteen minute look at the remarkable production design by Tom Duffield;‘When Carol met Larry’ - a featurette about cross-dressing;‘Making Bela’ - about actor Lugosi, with comments by Martin Landau and Rick Baker;‘Let’s Shoot this …’ - a fourteen minute glimpse behind the camera, showing Burton as he shoots a few of the actual scenes;plus a short music video starring the lovely Lisa Marie gyrating to the eerie strains of the theremin.Most significantly, though, there’s a nice varied audio commentary by Burton and the writers, offering plenty of insights into the film, and reiterating their strange admiration for this hopeless director. One of the reasons that the biopic remained so sympathetic to Wood was due to the removal of scenes that painted him at his self-doubting worst. Apparently, there was also an episode, lifted from the script, that showed Ed’s impulsive marriage to actress Norma McCarty who left him because of his cross-dressing habits. There’s no sign of her in the film, despite the fact that she played a stewardess in ‘Plan 9 from Outer Space’ - so one has to accept a little artistic license on the screenwriters’ behalf. (According to Wikipedia, Bela Lugosi got married in the last year of his life too, which may come as a surprise to those who know this film.) And the scene where Ed Wood meets Orson Welles in a bar was (sadly) pure fiction, as well.At one point, the commentary also makes a fascinating parallel between the director-actor relationship of Ed Wood and Lugosi, and Tim Burton and Vincent Price. Burton, of course, got to work with his own ‘horror-hero’ Price late in life, in the movie 'Edward Scissorhands'; plus Price narrated the wicked little animated work 'Vincent' (which can be found on 'The Nightmare before Christmas' DVD).

A thoroughly romanticised telling of cult 'worst director in the world' Ed Wood and his merry band of misfits as they create the worst film ever made.This is probably Tim Burton's best film, a flop on initial release, despite being made fairly cheaply. Depp was still thoroughly likeable and engaging at this point in his career, and make his Ed Wood such a plucky underdog it's impossible not to feel for him. Martin Landau deservedly won an Oscar for his performance as Bela Lugosi, and the relationship between he an Ed is genuinely warm and mirrors Burton and Vincent Price's working together.Beautifully shot in black and white, beautifully scored, with a terrific cast. It may help to be familiar with Ed Wood and his oeuvre (externalised in the documentary Look Back in Angora) but it's certainly not essential as the story is relatable just as that of the eternal underdog chasing after success ever just out of reach. The film certainly glosses over the more lugubrious parts of Ed Wood's life and leaves out his descent into alcoholism and nudie features, preferring instead to end on a relative high.Strongly recommended, and a reminder of how great Burton could be when not on autopilot. The Blu-ray is very strong A/V wise and while a 4k UHD would be a nice upgrade, the film's following is probably too niche to warrant one, unless taken on by a boutique label, which will never happen as it's a Disney property.