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DVD Shopping Bag: Ed Wood on Blu-ray
A viewing to change everything By
Robert T. Trate
October 02, 2012
Source: Mania.com
The Burton Bio-pic, Ed Wood arrives on Blu-ray
© Touchtone
It’s funny when a movie comes out, nowadays, how much hype there is. There was hype back in 1994, just not like today. Tim Burton’s bio-pic on the “worst director of all time” came and went pretty quickly. Burton had just finished Batman Returns and this was, believe it or not, a departure for the director. Personally, I was a freshmen in college, working two jobs, and just trying to keep up. I knew of Burton’s film, I just didn’t have time for something that wasn’t hyped or his usual flare. A bio-pic about the “worst director of all time”? No, thanks.
Somewhere along the road, at the end of college, I happened to be working at a video store and saw the movie sitting there on the shelf. It was a free rental, so, at the most, all it was going to cost me was time. To be brief, I loved it. Perhaps it was all the film history/ theory that I absorbed over the 5 years in college or maybe it was the production classes, but Ed Wood really spoke to me. The “worst director of all time” was always scheming one way or another just to get his films made. Why? Because he just wanted to tell stories. I understood that and respected that. Ed became a hero of mine and in 2002, when I co-produced a film, he got me through it.
A couple of years ago, I picked up the collector’s edition (the one that was pulled from the shelves right away) and Ed Wood on DVD became a staple of my night time viewing. There was something comforting about the movie and Ed’s resilience to never give up. Bela Lugosi also became a new favorite actor of mine and all of his work took on a new meaning. To honor both Bela and Ed, I even arranged a double feature of Bride of the Atom and Plan 9 From Outer Space at the local cinema. These two men, and all the characters in the film, have become friends, much like the misfits I knew and loved in my own life. Yet, with my most recent viewing of the film, it has now all changed.
A couple of weeks ago, I got the Ed Wood Blu-ray. I popped on the commentary track and listened to Burton and company talk about the film. After all, it was the one special feature I never watched and a great excuse to check out the film’s resolution in 1080p. First of all, Rick Baker’s make up on Martin Landau holds up. He is still very much Lugosi and not Landau in make up. Sarah Jessica Parker, on the other hand... yikes! That is a face that should not be in 1080p or perhaps not in black and white 1080p. The camera doesn’t lie, Jessica. However, it was the commentary track that made it all different and not the film I fell in love with.
Tim Burton, Martin Landau, and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski reveal just how much was of this film was fabricated. It is true that not all bio-pics are honest to God gospel, but how much was made up, here, truly saddened me; the facts of which I won’t even go into. Now, I know William Wallace didn’t really do all things Mel Gibson’s film had him do. I also know that Oscar Schindler never had that “one more person” moment from the end of the film. Yet, with something as simple and non-earth shattering as the story behind the “worst director of all time”, couldn’t we get a little more of the truth?
Burton does address that in interviewing people he was getting their perspectives on what happened. He knew that if he didn’t stay true to the vision of the film, it would have easily become a film about Criswell, Bunny Breckinridge, or Dolores Fuller. All of which would have ruined the tale of friendship between Bela and Ed. Now, I have to wrestle with what’s on screen as the story of Ed Wood as more fiction than fact. It is still an inspiring piece of cinema, but it feels tarnished that so much of it was “Bullshit”. Without a definitive book on Ed Wood, how will we ever know the truth? In all the special features I have ever watched, this one was the first to actually ruin a film for me.
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Well...I have to admit I'm almost shocked as you Robert...now knowing so much was made up...not sure I want to own this one anymore. I remeber watching it a while back when it came out and loved it but now knowing there was so much stuff made up in the movie, not sure I could look at it the same way.