Having seen most of “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, I can verify that it is a terrible piece of cinematography.
But I haven’t been able to find any of Wood’s other creations-are they readily available?
In any event, I recall the biographical movie-Wood calls upon the owner of some Hollywood “B Movie” studio, in an effort to get one of his ideas produced. The dialogue was very amusing:
(B Studio Head) : “Look, I make crap-but the crap I make makes money”
(EW Wood): “I have a great idea, this movie will be great!”
(B Srudio Head): “Nope, nobdy will pay a dime to see this dreck”
Or something like that!
Wood may have had the soul of an artist – a creative vision, a desire to tell stories, etc. – but he had minimal skills and even less budget.
I recall reading some reminiscense of Wood where the author claimed that, except for Bela Lugosi, no one Wood ever worked with had the slightest idea of what they were doing. Wood had to write the scripts, assemble the costumes and props, set up the cameras and lighting, even scrounge up the financing for his movies. Given what he was working with, it’s a wonder he even managed to complete a single movie. Asking for “good” was too much.
Oddly enough, Glen or Glenda? is the *only *movie–to this day–that accurately and sympathetically explains the difference between homosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals.
It is hilariously awful (“Bevare de green dragon dat seets on your doorstap!”) but its heart is in the right place and it says things that still need to be said.
Says them very badly, true, but . . .
He directed several public service announcements and government training shorts. I’ve never seen any and have no idea if any of them survive, but since they didn’t require special effects and presumably had enough of a budget to not have to stop in the middle and go collect Coke bottles or whatever I would guess it was probably as good as his work got.
I wonder how his widow, who outlived him by many years (just died a year or two ago IIRC), felt about his reputation. On the one hand, his name was a synonym for talentless hack, but on the other hand, unlike a lot of far more successful contemporaries he is remembered long after his death (and she did get some money from the Tim Burton movie and other estate cash-ins- not a fortune but probably enough to pay off some debts and have a nice little vacation or whatever).
I mean, the made this crap on a shoestring (and it showed). My question: how did he get a national distributor for this crap? Granted, in the 1950’s you had tons of small theatres, and most would play anything.
Still, Wood’s stuff was so bad, it is hard to see any big distributor touching him.
Can you imagine a guy like Wood today, at Sundance (maybe he would be proclaimed a genius!).
IIRC, Ed ended his days writing scripts for Swedish Erotica flicks. So you may have him to thank for such clsssic moments as when the housewife figures out a way to show her gratitude to the plumber.
His name was Edward D.(Davis) Wood, Jr.
No, there was a big demand for product, even bad product. Drive-ins didn’t care about quality, since much of their audience didn’t go there to see a movie. Horror films were especially appealing to teens, too.
And while there may be more screens today, there were more theaters back then, and often exclusivity agreements meant you had to scramble for product.
Also, I don’t think Wood got national distributors as much as he got small, local distributors who worked with drive-ins in a small area.
Plan 9 was distributed by Distributors Corporation of America, which appears to have distributed primarily low budget melodramas, horror and sci-fi flicks. Plan 9 was apparently the last film they distributed.
You’ve just given me an idea… :sly:
I’ve been told his porn was pretty good, but I’ve never seen it.
Wood was actually lucky to be in the right place at the right time, otherwise nobody would know about him today.
If he made his films prior to 1958 or around the 80s to present times, he never would have found a distributor. Today, he probably would have made straight to DVD cheapies and hawked his stuff from a table at horror conventions. He was ambitious enough that he probably would have “premiered” his film at a theater by “four walling” it. Meaning renting the theater for the night and then hoping enough people show up to cover the cost of the rental.
I say he was lucky because he made his movies at the height of the Drive-In era for reasons mentioned by another poster (they were starved for cheap low budget second and third billing movies) and post US vs. Paramount 1948 saw the rise of independant “art House” and grindhouse type theaters. Plus smaller independant movie house chains referenced in the film, *Ed Wood *by the B movie producer.
Have a look at his filmography. He contributed to some not great, but what appear to be competant pieces of film in his early years, even as director. They seem mainly to be westerns:
I think that pretty much encapsulates it. And I would give a lot of credit to his “fame” to Michael Medved, who showcased his work in the “Golden Turkey Awards.”
It was the readers of Medved’s earlier book, The 50 Worst Films of All Time that deserve the credit. At the end of that, he asked readers to choose the worst film of all time, and Plan 9 got the most votes.
One thing about Plan 9 is that, though there are many bad elements, it at least does have a relatively coherent plot. The Solarbonite business is silly, but no more so than many of the “scientific” explanations in movies of the time (Consider Unknown World, where the scientists explain that the Earth is hollow). It also was made with complete sincerity; Wood believes in the material and loves it, and you can see that.
Ed Wood was famous before Michael Medved’s books. His work was a staple of Bad Film showings they held imn NYC and elsewhere, long before things like MST3K (and before Medved’s books, IIRC). Plan Nine was a staple of WPIX (Channel 11 out of New York)'s Chiller Theater, and clips from it featured prominently in that show’s opening credits (before the animated six-finger hand one was made). Right at the very beginning, in fact:
