Ed Wood - Movie Forums

This review was going to be on the Movie Tab thread but my write up seemed too long to be wasted there so I'm putting it here.

****. I can watch this film over and over and never really tire of it. It is a celebration film of a poorly judged film maker whose works though not of the highest standard deserve to be recognised for their achievement in the film industry. The difference between Ed Wood and other bad film makers is there is something special about him, a uniqueness that you can't help but admire. This film was more then just a biopec of a great man but also an emotional ride looking into this poor mans hero. What was especially striking was the relationship between Wood and Lugosi which to me was THE film. Two outcasts in a booming industry finding themselves together in times of difficulty.

Johnny Depp is very well cast as the man of the title but Martin Landau who played Lugosi stole his thunder and the film, you can truelly believe the man IS Bela Lugosi. Wood's penchant for dressing in womens clothing and admiration for Welles and Lugosi's drug problems and suicidal tendency really highlight their lives and help understand how difficult and extrodinary and fascinating their life was, even then, for those in the industry. I really, really felt for everyone on here. Where Landau as Lugosi was filmed sniffing the rose in the minuture featurette is my most memorable moment amongst many. A small but very big part in the entirety of the film.

An under-rated mastery of movie making about a man who was not a movie master but a wonderous man of his time, and a man who was too late appreciated for his vast contribution to films. ***