Interesting, but not accurate bio of Ed Wood Jr.

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2002)

While I found this bio of director Ed Wood Jr. to be very entertaining, I must admit I was rather annoyed by the many historical inaccuracies contained in this film. It's shame that so many people watch a film thats based on a true story and think everything in it is 100 percent true. Perhaps the most annoying was Tim Burtons callous, inaccurate way he portrays Bela Lugosi. Martin Landau is good in the role, but the Lugosi shown here is not the Lugosi presented is several bio's that I have read. Lugosi was a drug addict, but it was a doctor prescribed addiction, he was not just some junky. Lugosi as far as every bio I have ever read, could cuss with the best of them, but being a gentlemen from the old country, he never cussed in front of women, as he does in this film.

A few other historical inaccuracies contained in this film:

1)The scene of Wood and Lugosi in Las Vegas, where Lugosi hosted the "Bela Lugosi Review" makes it look if the show was disaster. In the fact the stage review, directed by Wood, may actually be the only thing Wood did that received good critical notices from the trade papers. "The Bela Lugosi Review" ran successfully for several weeks, audiences did not boo Lugosi off the stage.
2)The films gives one the impression that the only films Bela Lugosi made in the fifties were for Ed Wood. They fail to mention Lugosi's real last film, THE BLACK SLEEP for United Artists in 1956.
3)Ed Wood did not introduce Tor Johnson to acting in films. Johnson had been appearing in films for years before he ever met Ed Wood. It should be stated that Wood was crucial in making Johnson a star of low budget monster movies however. 4)Gregory Walcott was not cast as a leading man in PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE under the same circumstances as Tony McCoy was cast in BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Gregory Walcott was a busy working actor in Hollywood at that time, playing minor roles in major films at the time. The real story of how he ended up being cast in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is lot more funnier than the way presented in the film. To bad Burton lacked the imagination to present the real story.
There are a lot more historical inaccuracies in this film, but these are the major ones I think need to be pointed out.

Thank you and have a nice day!