Best of the worst

Rating: 10/10 (29 May 2000)

Ed Wood was the best bad Hollywood film maker. It takes a particular genius to create truely aweful films, films that are so bad, they are almost great.
Ed Wood (the movie) is a wonderful homage to a truely bad film maker. Made, ironically, by one of cinemas great film makers.
Tim Burton has an obvious affection for Wood and his bizzare entourage. He doesn't make fun of them, rather presenting them as eccentric and unusual; colourfull and rather charming.
The film follows Wood's professional career from backlot worker to his 'masterpiece' Plan 9 from Outer Space. This is not a film about failure, rather it is a celebration of the human creative spirit. Wood's indominitable belief in himself and his actors raises him to majestic heights, particularly his relationship with Bela Lugosi.

Beautifully shot in crisp black and white, the film is almost a pastiche of fifties B movies; the script and acting are wonderfully wooden. It's to Burton's credit that he carries this of so well.
The cast are a joy to watch, in particular Bill Murray as the failed transsexual, Jeffrey Jones as Cresswell, a ham psyhic and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi. Landau's preformance is a revelation after some of his hamier preformances in bad 70s' TV shows.
Ed Wood is a film for all lovers of film, good or bad. It not only tells the story of Ed Wood, it captures the magic of a movie maverick.