Edward Davis Wood Jr.(1924-1978)(Also know as Ed Wood Jr to many film fans)was a man with no talent for film making who made movies anyway. He must of been one of the greatest film promoters Hollywood ever seen. He had to have been inorder to get people to invest in his movies inspite of his track record. He also wrote novels and screenplays from the early 50's to his death in 1978. After being named the world's worst film director in the book THE GOLDEN TURKEY AWARDS a cult fallowing was formed around him and his movies. Though he was getting some attention from Lugosi fans just before his death due to two books on the life of actor Bela Lugosi he was already dead by the time his own cult was formed. Many of his movies which few people wanted to see during his lifetime can now be found widely on video.
NEWS FLASH! I just got an E letter from Alexander W. Kogan Jr of FILMS AROUND THE WORLD INC. He has inform me that Rudy Grey (Who wrote the great Ed Wood bio Nightmare of Ectasy) has discover the orginial negatives of two Ed Wood movies: NECROMANIA and THE ONLY HOUSE. The release of these two films are still in the planning stages.
THE MOVIES OF ED WOOD JR:
THE STREETS OF LAREDO(1948)Written and Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.
THE SUN WAS SETTING(1951)Written,produced, and Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. With-Tom Keene and Phyllis Coates.
LAWLESS RIDER(1952)Directed by Yakima Canutt. Ghost written by Edward D. Wood Jr. With Keene Duncan.
GLEN OR GLENDA(1953) AKA: I LED 2 LIVES, I CHANGED MY SEX and others titles.
If Ed wood had not made PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE this would be the movie everyone would remember him for. Wood himself stars under the name Daniel Davis and plays a transvestite who can not decide if he should tell the woman he is going to marry about his desire to wear women's clothes. Wood himself was a crossdresser and most likely based some of it on his own life story.
Bela Lugosi with this film crosses the line from B movies to third rate cinema. Lugosi seems to be playing God. He spends the movie in a spooky looking room watching the going ons of man kind and every so often ranting lines by Wood that make no real sense.
Lyle Talbot plays a police detective trying to understand what makes men want to wear women's clothes. Talbot like Lugosi was once a Boardway star who stared in movies in the 30's.
A very odd thing about this movie is the way Wood made use of unrelated stock footage to pad out the film. Shots of busy streets, cars driving down a road and buffalos is spliced in as Bela Lugosi rant bad lines. In another scene a man is shown working as the narrator tells the viewer that he is wearing women's underwear.
Written and Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. With Bela Lugosi, Dolores Fuller, Timothy Farrel, Lyle Talbot, Captian DeZita,Conrad Brooks.
CROSSROAD AVENGER:THE ADVENTURES OF THE TUCSON KID(1953)Written and Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. With-Tom Keene, Tom Tyler, Lyle Talbot, Harvey Dunn, Kenne Duncan, Edward D. Wood jr.
BOOTS(1953)Written and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.
JAILBAIT(1954)
This is the Ed Wood movie everyone forgets. The reason for this is that this was a fairly normal movie for an Ed Wood production. It's a crime drama about a son gone bad and revenge his father takes against his son's murderer. The ending does have a neat twist. The sets are on the cheap side. The production values are not any worst than other 3rd rate crime drama of the era.
Steve Reeves who would become famous for muscle men films like HERCULES makes his first film appearance in this film as a policeman. He would be the only Ed Wood performer to go on to stardom. Everyone else was pretty much on their way down.
Lyle Talbot once again appears in this movie as a policeman. When investagators from the screenactors union came by they were enbarassed to find Talbot working on this movie since he was an union offical.
Timothy Farrell plays a sleazy hood in this film. He often played sleazy hoodlums who would shoot his friends in the back in low budget crime films. Off screen Farrell was a policeman in Los Angeles.
In the orginial release of this movie Ed Wood clipped in a musical dance number from a movie featuring performers in black face during the theater robbery scene. He took those scenes from a movie made by someone else. The prints called 'the director's cut' replace these scenes with footage of a striper.
Produced and directed By Edward D. Wood Jr. Written by Edward D. Wood jr. and Alex Gordon. With-Lyle Talbot,Dolores Fuller, Steve Reeves, Timothy Farrell,Mona McKinnon.
BRIDE OF THE MONSTER(1955)
This was Ed wood's best motion picture. That is not saying much. It is a basic B horror film featuring Bela Lugosi as a mad scientist who is doing experiments in a spooky old house by a swamp (Who would build a house by a swamp?)
Lugosi's henchman is Lobo who is played by wrestler Tor (Super Swedish Angel) Johnson. The film ends with Lugosi being turned into an atomic monster (A tall double in long shots wearing plaform shoes) and going on a rampage against a group of policemen before falling into the swamp and fighting with a giant octopus. A bolt of lightling strike them both and they blow up leaving an atomic mushroom cloud.For some reason the people nearby watching this atomic bomb blast are not hurt in anyway from the blast.
The film has the look of an old Monogram Production.The kind Lugosi use to appear back in better days when he was doing B movies.
Produced and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr. and Alex Gordon. With-Bela Lugosi,Tor Johnson,Conrad Brooks, Dorlores Fuller, Paul Marco, Harvey B. Dunn.
THE VIOLENT YEARS(1956)AKA: FEMALE, GIRL GANG TERRORISTS, and TEENAGE GIRL GANG.
This is one of the few films that Wood worked on that was successful.It played for years. He wrote the screenplay and had nothing to do with directing it.It is the story of bad teenage girls who form a gang and commit robberies. In one amazing scene they rape a man.
Directed by William Morgan. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr.With-Timothy Farrell.
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE(1956/59)
What is there left to say about this movie? It's a movie that looks like it's costumes and props came from a bad thriftstore.
Bela Lugosi was dead by the time they shot this film so Ed Wood used footage left over from another Lugosi project and used Dr. Tom Mason to double for Lugosi in other scenes. Dr. Tom as he was known by his friends did not look like Lugosi so he walks around the film with his cape covering his face. Lugosi in his footage is playing a living man whereas Dr. Tom is playing a zombie. If a person was not paying attention he would think that there was two diffrent characters in capes running around in this movie. Watch closely in the scene where Dr. Tom attacks Kelton the cop (Paul Marco) Dr. Tom with his back to the camera almost loses his cape and stops his attack for a few seconds to pull it back up around his neck.
Horror film hostess Vampire was broke when she did this film and did her role for $200 and was finished with it in about 2 hours. She thought no one would see the movie. Today she is best remember for playing a zombie in this movie.
Crossdressing Wood double for the female lead in one scene of the movie. When the female lead runs out of a phony studio graveset set and on to a field it is Wood in a wig and nightgown running in the field. The man who cames to Wood's aid in that scene is Tor Johnson's son Karl Johnson.
Tor Johnson plays his best role in this movie as a police man who is killed by zombies and is risen from the dead by aliens from outer space. The scene inwhich Johnson raises from his grave is creepy in a stark way that could only work in a black and white movie. Johnson has a few lines in this picture but because of his thick swedish accent he is hard to understand.
Written,Directed,produced and edited by Edward D. Wood Jr- With Bela Lugosi, Tom Keene, Dudley Manlove, Mona McKinnon,Duke Moore, Joanna Lee, John Breckenridge,Lyle Talbot, Criswell, Paul Marco,Conrad Brooks, Tor Johnson, Vampira, Rev. Lynn Lemon, Gregory Walcott.
THE FINAL CURTAIN(1957)
Shots from this film were spliced into the movie NIGHT OF THE GHOULS. Legend has it that Bela Lugosi was reading the screenplay to this short film when he died.His fifth wife said this was not true.
Written, Directed and produced by Edward D. Wood Jr. With- James 'Duke' Moore, Narrated by Dudly Manlove.
NIGHT THE BANSHEE CRIED(1957)Written, Directed and produced by Edward D. Wood Jr.
BRIDE AND THE BEAST(1958)
A really strange film about a woman who was a gorilla in her former life.
Directed by Adrian Weiss. Screenplay by Edward D. Wood Jr. From a story by Adrian Weiss.
NIGHT OF THE GHOULS(1958) Also known as THE REVENGE OF THE DEAD.
This was a fallow up to BRIDE OF THE MONSTER. Someone rebuilds the house by the swamp Lugosi used in that movie after it burned down and a con man uses the place to swindle people who believe he can contact the spirits of the dead.
In one of the early scenes of the film a couple is attacked by a female ghost dressed in black. The scene is played speeded up like the way some silent films are projected (Sound movies are shot and projected at 24 frames per second- Silent films were often shot at a slower speed and the action looks speeded up at 24 fps). Some reviewers state that the ghost in black is Vampira but that is incorrect. In the shots where the ghost in black is wearing a dark veil it is Ed Wood himself standing in for the female ghost.
Tor Johnson returns as Lobo in this film. Lobo is badly scarred from the fire that burned down the house in the first movie. The burn make up covers about half of Tor Johnson's face and is one of the only well done features of this film.
Tor Johnson's son Karl appears in this film as one of the ghosts who carry the con man away.
Also returning to this film was Paul Marco as Kelton the cop. This character appeared in both BRIDE OF THE MONSTER and PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.
NIGHT OF THE GHOULS was not released during Ed Wood's lifetime. Only after Wood became infamous for PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE did the film find a release on video.Many filmmakers better than Wood have had films on the shelf for years with no hope of getting them released.The bad filmmaker label did not hurt Wood but made even his lesser films popular among bad film fans.
Produced, written and directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.-Keene Duncan, Duke Moore, Valda Hansen, Tor Johnson,John Carpenter, Paul Marco, Harvey B. Dunne, Thomas R. Mason, Tony Cardoza, Karl Johnson, Criswell.
THE SINISTER URGE(1960)AKA: THE YOUNG AND THE IMMORAL
This is an anti porno movie about a manaic who gets the urge to kill women everytime he looks at pictures of nude women.
Wood himself would spend most of the rest of his life writing porn novels and making both soft and hard core movies including loops for the adultbook stores and 8mm. films.
Ed Wood and Conrad Brooks appear in the movie in a knife fight scene. The scene was from an unfinish movie that Wood and Brooks had been working on thourghout the 50's.
Written, directed and produced by Edward D. Wood Jr. With-Keene Duncan,James 'Duke' Moore, Harvey B. Dunn, Conrad Brooks, Edward D. Wood Jr.
MARRIED TOO YOUNG(1961) The daughter of screenwriter Nathanial Tanchuck has written me to inform me that Ed Wood had NOTHING to do with this screenplay. The story that Wood had worked on the screenplay started after Wood became infamous as a bad filmmaker.
This is the e letter she sent me on the matter (Cut and pasted from her e letter):
The movie, "Married Too Young" was NOT partially written by Ed Wood. My father, Nathaniel Tanchuck, wrote the entire movie, and I would truly appreciate this if you would correct your site. I was a child, I have a copy of the script, I visited the movie set. Ed Wood worked at Hal Roach or some other studio at the same time as my father, but my dad, Nathaniel Tanchuck, is the only writer of "Married Too Young." Thank you, Heather Tanchuck
SHOTGUN WEDDING(1963)
A hillbilly sex comedy.
Directed by Boris Petroff. Screenplay by Edward D. Wood Jr.
ORGY OF THE DEAD(1965)
Wood did not direct this movie but it looks just look a Wood production. A couple are driving along a road. In the long shots the car is in broad daylight and in the inserts the it pitch black outside the windows. The car crash and they find themselves in a graveyard. In the graveyard is Criswell who plays somesort of a spirit who judge the ghost of the dead. All the ghost are stripers and the film is 80 percent strip acts. Criswell is joined by a woman dressed in the style of Vampira and a pair of monsters: A mummy and a werewolf Who talk to each other with dubbed in voices. Criswell at one point for no reason walks thourgh the set holding his cape over his face like Dr. Tom Mason in PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.
Wood around the time this film was released wrote a paperback book for the adult market entitled ORGY OF THE DEAD as a tie in with the movie. It's filled with short stories by Wood.
Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr.-With Criswell.
FOR LOVE OR MONEY(1967) Directed by Donald A. Davis. Written by James Rogers. Based on a novel by Edward D. Wood Jr entitled SEXECUTIVES.
ONE MILLION AC/DC(1969) Directed by Ed De Priest. Written by Edward D. Wood jr. under the name Akdov Telmig.
OPERATION REDLIGHT(1969) Directed by Jacques Descent. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr and based on his novel MAMA'S DIARY. With Edward D. Wood Jr.
GUNRUNNERS (1969)Directed by Donald A. Davis. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr.
THE LOVE FEAST(1969)aka:THE PHOTOGRAPHER and PRETTY MODELS IN A ROW.
Incredible. A soft core porno film co-written and staring Ed Wood Jr himself. He plays a man who is trying to take part in an orgy but keeps being interupted.
The bloated old before his time Wood was one of the few people to be hired to play in a porno film because of acting talent and not because of his body. He is funny in his role.
Directed by Joseph F. Robertson. Written By Edward D. Wood Jr, Joseph F. Robertson and Harry Kaye. With Edward D. Wood Jr.
EXCITED (1970)Written and Directed by Edward D.Wood Jr under the name Akdov Telmig.
THE DEVIL'S GARDEN (1970) AKA: THE REVENGE OF DR. X. This movie is somewhat of a mystery. It is said to have been written by Ed Wood and shot in Japan. The film was released in the United States with no credits and no studio in Japan will admit that they made it.
TAKE IT OUT IN TRADE(1970)This seems to be a lost movie. Out take footage was discovered and released on video without a soundtrack other than music. Ed Wood is in drag once again as a woman named Alicia.
Written and Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.With-Duke Moore, Edward D. Wood Jr.
CLASS REUNION(1970)Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Written by Stephen C. Apostolof and Edward D. Wood Jr.
SNOW BUNNIES(1970)Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr and Stephen C. Apostolof.
NECROMANIA(1971)
This is a super cheap 16mm. soft core porno feature. It was shot for about $7,000.It's about a couple going to a spooky house to find advice to fix up their sex life. There is no real plot and the movie moves from one sex scene to another.
This was based on an Ed Wood porno novel called THE ONLY HOUSE and was a lost film for many years. A print missing the first few minutes would be re discovered after Wood became famous.
UPDATE: Rudy Grey (Who wrote Nightmare of Ectasy) has discover the camera negative to this movie and a complete print should be released by FILMS AROUND THE WORLD INC. soon.
UNDERGRADUATE(1972)Directed by Jacques Descent. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr.
COCKTAIL HOSTESS(1972)Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. written by Edward D. Wood Jr and Stephen C. Apostolof.
FUGITIVE GIRLS(1974)aka:FIVE LOOSE WOMEN and HOT ON THEIR TRAIL and WOMEN'S PENITENTIARY 8 on video.
Wood has two small parts in this film. One as a Sheriff and another as 'Pops' a man who runs a gas station.
Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Written by Edward D. Wood Jr and Stephen C. Apostolof With-Edward D. Wood Jr.
BEACH BUNNIES(1976) AKA:RED,HOT, AND SEXY. Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Written by Stephen C. Apostolof and Edward D. Wood Jr.
HOT ICE(1977)Directed by Stephen C. Apostolof. Written by Stephen C. Apostolof and Edward D. Wood Jr.
I WOKE UP EARLY THE DAY I DIED(1998)
This film is from a script that Ed Wood wrote and it seem to be one of his favorite screenplays. He had Aldo Ray and John Carradine casted for the film but he was unable to find a backer for it.The film has no dialogue. Twenty years later it is finally made and released as an art film. The cast is impressive. I wonder if any of them would have been in an Ed Wood film if he was still alive? The reviews of the film is very mixed.
Written by Edward D. Wood Jr. Directed by Aris Iliopulos. Producted by Chris Hanley and Billy Zane. With Billy Zane, Sandra Bernhard, John Ritter, Bud Cort,Vampira, Christina Ricci, Eartha Kitt,Karen Black,Conrad Brooks, Ron Perlman, Rick Schroder,Carel Struycken.
DEVIL GIRLS (1999)Written and Directed by Andre Perkowski. This movie about a girl gang is based on a novel by Ed Wood printed back in 1967. The film was shot in five days on DV video and film. The world premiere was held on August 26th at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago. Perkowski is shooting a movie
based on the screenplay THE VAMPIRE'S TOMB by Ed Wood. Check out his webpage bmm.hispeed.com
MOVIES ABOUT ED WOOD JR. Hollywood did not want anything to do with Ed Wood during his lifetime. Now they make movies about his life. Among the movies...
ED WOOD(1994) A big budget biopic about the life of Ed Wood (Played by Johnny Depp) It was shot in black and white and director Tim Burton did a great job of re creating the look of Ed Wood's movies. Wrestler George "The Animal" Steel was the perfect choice to play Tor Johnson. Like most Hollywood biopics the facts were changed around to fit the screenplay.
ON THE TRAIL OF ED WOOD. A video interview with actor Conrad Brooks. He talks about Ed Wood and shows off his collection of stills from Ed Wood films. A very dark looking trailer from PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE is featured.
HELLBORN. Another Video interview with Conrad Brooks. This video features footage from an unfinished film by Ed Wood called HELLBORN. Scenes from this unfinished film were used in THE SINISTER URGE and NIGHT OF THE GHOULS. Also a homemovie shot by Ed Wood and featuring Conrad Brooks and his brother is shown. This homemovie is alot like Wood's big screen projects. This video and ON THE TRAIL OF ED WOOD both have a homemade feel to them.
THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EDWARD D. WOOD JR(1995)A recent film about the life and films of Ed Wood. It features interviews with Wood's friends and co workers. Directed and written by Brett Thompson.
LOOK BACK IN ANGORA(1994) A campy film about the life and movies of Ed Wood using clips from his movies. Written and directed by Ted Newsom.
FLYING SAUCERS OVER HOLLYWOOD-THE PLAN 9 COMPANION (1992)AKA: THE ED WOOD STORY-THE PLAN 9 COMPANION. Interviews with the cast and crew of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. Directed by Mark Patrick Carducci. Written by Lee Harris and Mark Patrick Carducci.
HOLLYWOOD RATED 'R'(1997) Ed Wood is among the subjects in this film.
ED WOOD MOVIES ON STAGE. There has been some stageplays based on Ed Wood's movies:
PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE:THE MUSICIAL. Based on a screenplay by Edward D. Wood, Jr. Written and Composed by David g. Smith.
The fallowing plays were presented by Dance Macabre Theatrics. They are going to be staging other plays based on Ed Wood movies soon. Check out www.dmtheatrics.com for details on the Ed Wood plays and other camp plays. Among their Ed Wood plays...
THE SINISTER URGE. Based on the screenplay by EDWARD D. WOOD, JR. Adapted and directed by FRANK CWIKLIK,Produced by FRANK CWIKLIK, IAN W. HILL, and MICHELE SCHLOSSBERG.
JAIL BAIT. Based on a screenplay by Edward D. Wood Jr, ADAPTED and DIRECTED BY MICHELE SCHLOSSBERG. PRODUCED by FRANK CWIKLIK, IAN W. HILL, and MICHELE SCHLOSSBERG.
BRIDE OF THE MONSTER from a screenplay by Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Alex Gordon adapted and directed by Bryan Enk.
THE FUGITIVE GIRLS!From the screenplay by Edward D. Wood. Adapted and directed by Frank Cwiklik. Produced by Frank Cwiklik, Ian W. Hill, and Michele Schlossberg
THE VIOLENT YEARS!From a Screenplay by Edward D. Wood, Jr. Adapted and directed by Ian W. Hill.
THE ORGY OF THE DEAD. From a screenplay by EDWARD D. WOOD, JR. Produced by TRAV S.D. Adapted, Designed, and Directed by FRANK CWIKLIK
Updated Sept 24, 2001.
Copyright 1999 by Teel.
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