Hilarious and poignant cult masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (2 November 2002)

I first saw the real Ed Wood's films "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Night Of The Ghouls" as a kid and had become interested in the fascinating story of the director and his bizarre group of friends and their experiences in later years. His films are enjoyable and fun (which is more than can be said for a lot of truly awful movies that others have raved about to me).
This film is a fitting tribute to Ed's dreams. I know it has it's inaccuracies but it's never less than true to the spirit of Ed Wood's amazing (and sometimes touching) story. I even went back and discovered that some of the things I assumed were artistic lisence in the story were actually drawn from Rudolph Grey's book (Nightmare Of Ecstacy). Much of the film is hilarious and has a lot of quirky humour and bizarre moments. There are also some beautifully poignant moments and a definite
sadness to some parts of the film. The style of the film is great and really recreates the atmosphere of Ed's movies and also accounts of his life. Shooting it in black and white was an inspired and bold move on director Tim Burton's part and is an example of his obvious affinity with the material. There were many colourful characters in Edward D Wood Jnr's life and the film really captures them and almost makes you want to join in with his wild dreams and eccentric films. The cast is uniformly excellent. Johnny Depp, apart from being in some of my favourite films
(Cry-Baby and Ed Wood) is also one of the finest actors around and has an interesting film career (Sleepy Hollow, From Hell, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Edward Scissorhands etc). He's a great choice for the lead role and gives the film a lot of energy and wit. Martin Landau (Space:1999, Cleopatra) is truly excellent as Bela Lugosi and it's great to see him acting alongside hi lovely, talented daughter in some scenes. Martin Landau provides many laughs in the film but also some of it's more poignant moments and makes you feel true sympathy for Bela in the film. Juliet Landau (Drusilla in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel) is perfect for quirky character roles and is a delight here. Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex And The City, Mars Attacks! )has some great bitchy moments and is another great actress. Patricia Arquette (True Romance, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3) is sweet in her role and brings out the poignancy of Ed's following his dreams. Both Jeffrey Jones and Bill Murray are great in their roles. Criswell was a bizarre character and I enjoyed the real person's opening monologues in Ed's pictures. The film is mostly funny up to and including the making of
"Bride Of The Monster" but gets sadder and grimmer for a period when dealing with Bela's addiction and time in hospital but the film gets funny again for the making of "Plan 9". The end gives the viewer some additional information about some of the main people portrayed and the film ends on a beautiful note (even though the reality for the characters isn't so great). Ed's left in the film with his dreams of fame and the film is an inspiration to dreamers and non-conformists everywhere. Funny and sad and always fascinating. Another stroke of genius from Tim Burton.