Glen or Glenda (1953)

A psychiatrist being interviewed by a police detective and a stoned Bela Lugosi (a.k.a God) relate the stories of Glen, a transvestite who just can't quite break the truth of his little habit to his fiance Barbara, and Alan, a man who decides to have a sex change operation.

Comments

Forget Plan 9 From Outer Space, this is Ed Wood's true defining masterpiece. Not only does it deal exclusively with that favorite subject of cult culture, transvestites, but it's also part drama, part autobiography (Glen is actually played by Ed Wood, who in real life also liked to wear women's clothing, and Wood's fiance is played Glen's girlfriend Barbara), and part documentary.

That's right, a good chunk of this movie plays out like one of those films you might have seen in grade school; you know, the ones that solemnly promised we would have colonized the moon by 1984? Here, we're told that Nature shows us that man may be naturally more flamboyent than women and that, if we can have cars and airplanes, then dammit we can have sex-change operations too!

The amusing or tragic thing, depending on your point of view, is that despite the, well, Ed Wood quality and the occasional moment of pure surrealness, the film does make a few good points and is, in fact, an earnest attempt by a man who honestly cared more about his movies than profit to inform a sexually conservative public about transvestitism. But then, you have Bela Legusi, either stoned out of his mind or enjoying himself a tad too much, prattling on about nothing or facing off with a Devil so badly dressed his costume could be surpassed by a third-grader (I can't believe I just wrote that sentence).

I really have to recommend this film, at least on its sheer historical value to sub-culture. But honestly....Ed Wood, Angora sweaters, Bela Lugosi providing a dose of trippiness, out-of-place strip scenes, and transvestites...how can you go wrong?


Choice Quotes:

"Bevare, bevare the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep! He eats little boys, puppy dog tails, big...fat...snails. Bevare...take care." -Bela Lugosi