freakboy on film: GLEN OR GLENDA (1953)

written & directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr.

Hetero-centric love, of sort

Glen is engaged to Barbara, but Glen has a secret.  He enjoys wearing women’s clothing, even an uncomfortable brassiere*.  Will Glen confess his desire to wear her angora sweater?  Will Barbara accept his cross-dressing ways?  Will marriage kill Glen’s feminine alter ego Glenda?  My painted lips are sealed.

I wish I looked this good in drag 

*(I wore a bra for the abandoned video version of my soap opera parody PRIVATE IDAHO and it felt like a torture device designed by a sadistic man, in my opinion)  

As I’ve said before, GLEN OR GLENDA is shockingly progressive, but weirdly backwards.  The story is told by a psychiatrist and has an open mind, to a degree, about gender reassignment surgery and men dressing as women.  Well, hetero-centric men.   It is made abundantly clear that Glen is not a homosexual, accompanied by scenes of “predatory” queer men approaching so called “normal” men.  It would be easy to be offended by this, but I believe these moments were born out of ignorance, unlike the mean and nasty homophobic crap found in more than a few 1980’s films.  

Another element that could be offensive to modern audiences is how Glen’s transvestitism seems almost like dissociative identity disorder (split personality) than simply a man who feels more comfortable in women’s clothes.  Maybe this was out of ignorance or maybe Ed Wood saw his feminine side that way.  Then again, maybe as a filmmaker, he may have simply been adding a heightened sense of drama in the story.  

Save your drama for your mama

To muddle the issue and  the audience even further, the psychiatrist tells of two other transvestite cases.  The first one tragically ends in suicide, but the other story ends happily with a man successfully transitioning to a woman.  Yes, the message, whatever exactly it is, is all over the place.  However, there’s a lot of openness for a 1950’s film. 

Is anyone really this comfortable wearing a bra?

Then there is Bela Lugosi, who receives top billing!  The man who became famous playing Dracula ended his career in the Woodverse.  In GLEN OR GLENDA, he is a god-like scientist watching over humanity from an armchair.  His favorite pastime is to “pull the string,” which I assume makes us mere mortal puppets dance to his omnipotent whims.  All I really know is Bela Lugosi is far more entertaining here than in the snooze-fest that is 1931’s DRACULA.  

So many strings, so little time

Nobody won any acting awards for this delirious film, obviously.  Though perhaps Dolores Fuller as Barbara could’ve won a Razzie if they had been a thing in 1953.  Timothy Farrell as the psychiatrist gives a matter-of-fact performance and has an excellent droll voice for the role.  Ed Wood himself plays the title role of Glen/Glenda and he’s not half bad.  He has a somewhat natural ease with his dialogue and even more ease dressing as Glenda.  Though nothing will beat his performance as “that drag queen Alecia” in TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE! 

I must also mention the dream sequence, or whatever you might call it.  This WTF? montage includes Satan attending Glen and Barbara’s wedding, extreme femininity and some light bondage.  It also shows a group of men and women pointing accusing fingers at Glen, but then back away in awe, or at least silent respect, as Glen becomes Glenda.  Is it Glen’s way of accepting the Glenda inside?  I think so, maybe.  It’s all very confusing in the best way possible. 

Me at your wedding

In conclusion…
This was going to be a 4-in-1 post where I briefly blog about my Halloween tradition of watching three films of Edward D. Wood, Jr. and then Tim Burton’s cinematic love letter to Wood, but I found I had a lot to say about GLEN OR GLENDA.  I think this is because GLEN OR GLENDA is my favorite of his creations.  The story is trying to be sincere and sort of open-minded, while also being bizarre and almost hallucinogenic at times.  GLEN OR GLENDA may or may not do much in favor of the LGBTQ+ community, but it clicked with a young, queer freakboy who has always flashed a sardonic smirk at traditional gender roles.  So, slip into something comfortable (yes, even a bra, if that’s your bag) and open your mind to the shocking, surreal and sublime nature of Ed Wood’s GLEN OR GLENDA!    

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. Happy Halloween! 🎃 

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My books & blogs…  
http://thejlhcollective.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-collective.htm