A curiosity about transvestism and sex changes. Exploitative in its time and filled with sinister characters and spooky settings, the film is a major hoot for today's viewers. Bela plays a ghoulish narrator/puppetmaster who threatens to "Pull the string!" of helpless mortals.
A police inspector is puzzled by the suicide of a transvestite, and goes to a psychiatrist to find out about the kind of man who prefers to dress in woman's clothing. The psychiatrist tells him about two of his patients, in particular Glen, a man who was engaged to be married but who couldn't bear to tell his fiancee of his unusual desires.
"Glen or Glenda," also released theatrically as "I Led 2 Lives," is one of those films that has to be seen to be believed.
Director Edward D. Wood Jr. concocted a pastiche of horror melodrama, pseudo-documentary and badly acted psychodrama that has become one of the camp classics of all time. Although portions of it are (unintentionally) hysterically funny, the film does communicate a heavy-handed plea for tolerance.
Wood was undoubtedly keenly affected by the issues of gender and identity with which he concerned himself here. So much so, that Wood himself played the "lead" role of Glen, under the pseudonym of Daniel Davis.
Priceless moment: When fiancee Barbara decides she will try to understand Glen's desires, and takes off her angora sweater to give to him (Glen seemed to lust after it more than her).
Dr. Nathan Bailey is listed as the film's medical advisor.
Excerpt: "Only the infinity of the depths of a man's mind can really tell the story..." (Psychiatrist)
"You go ahead and wear your sister's dress, Glen. You always did look much better as a girl than you do as a man." (Glen's Mother)
"I thought German psychology explains a lot of the facts, but I'm afraid the end of study is only the beginning of reality." (Barbara to Glen)
"Acting the woman and being the woman are two entirely different thing." (Psychiatrist)
From Mrs. Edward Wood: "I can't tell you how pleased I was to find an original version of my husband's most deeply personal film still available at Bizarre Video. I wholeheartedly endorse this version, which contains no added footage from other sources."
DVD Features:
Region Encoding: All Regions
Snap Case
Distributor Notes: He loved women so much, he dared to dress like one! Ed Wood strikes again. The true story of a man whose lust for women drove him to be as close to a woman as he could by trying to become one. The first film based on the strange tastes of legendary filmmaker Ed Wood, Jr., and a sordid plea for acceptance in the world of bondage and the sexually confused, decades before "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and TV's "Ellen." "Glen or Glenda?" stars famous horror icon Bela Lugosi as the "puppet master" and Ed himself in the role of Glen/Glenda. It also marks the screen debut of Wood's main squeeze at the time, Dolores Fuller, who went on to become one of Elvis's star songwriters. An important film document about the early career of a man years ahead of his time. Wildly entertaining!
Source: Image Entertainment, Inc.
Cinematographer
William C. Thompson: American Diretor of Photography
Review 1:
"...With some wacky and often hilarious dialogue and narration..."
Source: Variety
05/27/1981
Review 2:
"Courageous in some ways but absurd in so many more, Wood's first feature is a heartfelt tolerance plea for men who dress in women's clothing..."
Source: USA Today
p.3D 10/19/2004
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