Product Details

• Actors: Edward D. Wood Jr., Bela Lugosi, Gregory Walcott, Tom Keene, Lyle Talbot
• Directors: Edward D. Wood Jr.
• Writers: Edward D. Wood Jr., Alex Gordon
• Producers: Edward D. Wood Jr., Charles Burg, Donald E. McCoy, George Weiss, Hugh Thomas Jr.
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Color, HiFi Sound, Special Edition, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 3
• Studio: Rhino / Wea
• VHS Release Date: October 1, 1996
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304204027
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #287,674 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Is Ed Wood the worst director who ever lived? His films are campy, clumsy, and hysterically inept, but their enthusiasm and good humor overcome incoherent scripts and wooden performances with heart, soul, and an infectious sense of fun. The jaw-dropping "documentary" Glen or Glenda? is a bizarre confessional starring Wood himself as a misunderstood transvestite and Bela Lugosi as a smirking godlike narrator. "Pull ze string!" shouts Lugosi as Wood reveals his angora fetish and love of women's underwear to the world. Lugosi returns as a mad scientist revenging himself on the world ("Home? I have no home!") in Bride of the Monster, a howler of a horror picture. Tor Johnson, the hulking Swedish wrestler turned B-movie icon, made his first Wood appearance as the lumbering beast Lobo (he almost knocks over the set in one scene!) tamed by the touch of angora. Finally there's Wood's "masterpiece," the clumsy, nearly incoherent, and ridiculously cheap Plan 9 from Outer Space. A tall, skinny, blond chiropractor subs for short, raven-haired Bela Lugosi (who died after a few days of shooting), cardboard gravestones wobble as the actors walk by, and night and day randomly come and go within the same scene. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What can I say ? It's the amazing Ed Wood !, January 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Glen Or Glenda [VHS] (VHS Tape)

If you like well-directed action scenes with plenty of sfx, maybe mixed with intelligent comedy and some drama, acted out by capable performers, then you won't want to see "Glen or Glenda". However; if you're one of those strange people who take joy in marvelling at just how bad it is possible to make movies, then this is for you.

Let me tell you: This is weird. Almost worse than Wood's masterpiece, "Plan 9 from Outer Space", it had me actually gaping in amazement for close to 70 minutes. Originally Wood's attempt at social commentary, trying to open people's eyes to the plight of the closet transvestites of the world (of which he himself was one, and played one in the film), this film has it all: an almost incoherent and incomprehensible story within a story within a story, narrated on several levels. Stock footage galore, among other things, a buffalo herd having, well - nothing to do with the film, and a lot of sweaty soldiers loading shells into cannons and shooting them off for close to 5 minutes, to sorta symbolise WW2 ("And just as quickly as the war had started... it was over!"). Lousy lines, lousy cast (Probably just picked'em up in the bar on his way over to the studio), lousy props (VERY obviously pasted-together newspaper front pages), a positively ludicrous explanation as to why it's so nice to wear women's clothing, a close to 15-minutes long, totally unrelated, episodic dream sequence containing lots of women wearing lingerie while performing various acts (like one woman pouncing upon another woman, binding and gagging her), all to the tune of "Czardas", the most rushed piece of violin music ever, while Wood's dream ego looks horrifiedly at the proceedings. And all under the watchful eye of the overseer Bela Lugosi, sitting in his mad scientist-laboratory and spouting totally wigged-out lines. PULL THE SKRINKS !

If you think this review was incoherent, it is because the film itself is incoherent. And if what I've described is your idea of fun, then you'll enjoy it as much as I did. If it isn't, well... "Bevare!"

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars If you think you've seen bad movies.... Beware.... Beware..., November 25, 2003

By 

FairiesWearBoots8272 (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glen or Glenda (DVD)

As a connoisseur of cult/bizarre films, I've seen some bad movies. If they're interesting enough, bad movies can be incredibly entertaining (i.e. Mystery Science Theater 3000). Even being familiar with Edward D. Wood's work (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Bride of the Monster) did not prepare for the experience of viewing his debut film, Glen or Glenda. Partially based on Wood's own life, the film was a serious attempt to dramatize the lifestyle of a man who is compelled to wear women's clothing. A disclaimer at the beginning proclaims it a film of "stark realism". What follows is 80 minutes of cinematic ineptitude, the likes of which I have never seen. There are plenty of bad films, but this movie is in a class by itself! Even Ed Wood's "classic" Plan 9 From Outer Space, often called the worst movie of all time, looks great in comparison to Glen or Glenda.

The film follows (occasionally) a man named Glen (Wood himself) who likes to wear women's clothing. He is engaged to a girl named Barbara (Dolores Fuller, Wood's girlfriend), but is distraught over whether to reveal his secret to her.
Wood's attempt at "stark realism" is destroyed immediately as soon as we see Bela Lugosi in a chair spouting incoherent nonsense ("Pull de string!", "Beware of the big green dragon that sits on your doorstep. He eats little boys, puppy-dog tails and big fat snails".)

Half the film consists of random stock footage that has no relevance to the material whatsoever. No to mention the absurd dream sequence that, I think, is supposed to represent Glen's confused state of mind, but it really makes no sense at all. It features half-clothed women dancing around for no reason, a torture scene (!!) and even an appearance by the devil (!!!). By this point, the audience is scratching their heads and wondering what the heck is going on. It really must be seen to be believed.

For fans of the director's work, Glen or Glenda is a must-see. Even though it's unbelievably terrible, the film is not without entertainment value. It has many laugh-out-loud moments, and the film overall is so bizarre that is should not be missed by cult movie fanatics.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Movie is PRICELESS, June 1, 2002

By 

"badmovieman" (KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Glen or Glenda (DVD)

There is no trick to making a normal bad movie. Most of the movies out there are bad or boring, or both. The people involved generally know the movie isn't very good. They are film professionals who realize they haven't brought what is necessary to create a quality movie. It may be due to time or a lack of money to hire the best actors and script writers. It may be pressure to clone the latest box office smash and capitalize on it's success. Whatever the reason it isn't because the director is so inept, incompetent, foolish, and inexperienced that they think incoherent rambling makes a fine picture.
That is precisely why "Glen or Glenda" is a priceless gem. Ed Wood poured his heart and soul into what he considered a hard hitting drama to enlighten the masses about cross dressing men. A cross dresser himself, Wood even wore women's underwear under his uniform while in the military. He felt this movie would educate, inform, and bring a better understanding about cross dressing. He actually thought it was a great movie.
Of course what he made was a wildly incoherent mess, full of unrelated scenes and crazy dialog. The Bela Lagosi character, who is playing God, rambles about "Pulling skrings" while buffalos stampede across the screen. There are dream sequences where scantily clad women slink about while Wood stands offstage and looks "Horrified". It simply cannot be described and has nothing to do with the plot. In fact, nothing in the movie has anything to do with the plot. That in itself is a remarkable achievement.
"Glen or Glenda" is a high water mark in bad movies. Along with "Robot Monster" and his own "Plan 9 from Outer Space", it has stood the test of time to become an icon. Watch it and be amazed.