Exceptional bio-pic only slightly marred by blurred truth

Rating: 9/10 (20 February 2007)

This film traces the rise (but not the fall) of notorious B film-maker Edward D. Wood, Jr. Ed Wood made some of the most famous B movies of the 1950s, including the final films of legendary "Dracula" actor Bela Lugosi. The film depicts how Wood was able to overcome many obstacles to get his films finished, including primarily his lack of financing (the film accurately shows his unusual funders, including religious groups who insist on Wood and cast/crew being baptized prior to filming), his odd group of semi-professional actors (many of whom, including Lugosi, had issues with substance abuse), and his fixation on angora sweaters and penchant for cross-dressing. A picture strongly emerges that Wood was a dreamer, a man who had all the passion and energy necessary for film-making but lacked the talent to make it work.
The performances are excellent all around. Depp makes his strongest impression as Wood, bringing manic energy and enthusiasm plus a charming lack of self-consciousness. Martin Landau was recognized by the Academy for his portrayal of the aging, morphine addicted horror legend Lugosi. He is alternately pathetic and majestic as the moment demands, leaving us with the sad impression of a giant who was not appreciated in his own time but whose own ego might have grown unrealistically in compensation for the fact. As Wood's first girlfriend Dolores Fuller (who later had a career writing movie tunes for Elvis Presley), Sarah Jessica Parker also leaves an impression as a woman determined to make it in the world and Hollywood but unable to cope with Wood's transvestitism or his weird group of friends.
One of the things that makes the film truly extraordinary is Burton's ability to capitalize on the opportunities the script provides for moments of both great sadness and great humor -- sometimes even in the same scenes. For example, Lugosi's scene in "Bride of the Monster" ("Home, I have no home!") is used twice. First it is used rather humorously as we see Wood's enthusiasm for the scene (which has elicited laughter from many audiences over the years because of Lugosi's strained enthusiasm and the over-the-top sentiment expressed in the speech ("I will create a new race of atomic supermen!") during the actual filming. Then we see him doing the scene on the street on a whim, Burton keeps the camera intently on Wood and Lugosi, but as he finishes the scene we pull back and see a crowd has gathered, and they are applauding.
Unfortunately there is a lot of wishful thinking in this film if you were to look at it as a true biography of Ed Wood. There's a tendency to go by the adage "print the legend". Lots and lots of stories have been circulated about Wood over the years, many outright false, and this film unfortunately repeats some of them. This doesn't damage its standing as a piece of entertainment but does damage its integrity as biography and also as art in some ways. The film labors to give a picture of Wood as a guy who had all the enthusiasm and passion but none of the talent to be a success -- unfortunately this is incorrect to some extent on both counts. For example in his memoirs Alex Gordon (who produced "Bride" with Wood) says that he moved in with Wood to work on projects in the early 50s because he wanted to be closer to Wood: he said he admired Wood's skill as a writer but that Wood had no self-discipline. He and others have commented on the fact that it was Wood's alcoholism more than any other factor which impeded his success in Hollywood -- Wood would often spend production money on alcohol for himself and the cast/crew and would run out of funds prior to completion due to all the parties. None of this is shown in the film; all we get is a card at the film's conclusion which implies that alcohol was only a problem for Wood after the events depicted in the film. However it is truly important in Wood's career and life -- producers knew about his substance abuse problems and it was part of the reason he was never formally employed as a director by AIP or Columbia or any other "studio". The film would make you believe that it was either dumb luck or Wood's lack of talent that kept him out of work. But in my opinion there were many less talented writers than Wood working for poverty row companies, and in fact Wood was hired by professionals like Ron Ashcroft and the famous stuntman Yakima Canutt to do script doctoring on B movies in his early years.
The issue of Wood's relationship with Lugosi is a far more serious departure from truth in favor of mythology, however. People may not realize it now, but there was definitely a time when many if not the majority of classic horror fans considered Wood partially to blame for Lugosi's demise, or at least for the declining quality of his films prior to his death. Many of the rumors which supported this former belief are untrue, but Burton and his writers have here substituted an equally untrue opposite myth -- a kind of image of Wood as an angel helping to rescue Lugosi from his addiction. In reality Wood and Lugosi were more like co-dependents, and it's highly doubtful that Wood did anything substantial to help Lugosi with his addiction. On the other hand Wood did do a lot of things to help Lugosi professionally, so to some extent those parts of the film (depicting Wood's role in Lugosi's TV career, for example) serve to correct a longstanding impression that Wood was just a leach on Lugosi in the dying giant's last years.