Ed Wood (1994)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, Jeffrey Jones, Bill Murray
Director: Tim Burton
Synopsis: Marvellous, lovingly created homage to one of Hollywood's lesser-known talents
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

A beautifully crafted and impeccably acted love letter to one of Hollywood's most extraordinary dreamers, "Ed Wood" celebrates the immortal Edward D. Wood Jr.—the man affectionately remembered as the creator of some of the most gloriously awful films ever committed to celluloid.

For my money, Tim Burton has never surpassed this remarkable achievement. Not before “Ed Wood”, and not since.

From the sublime opening title sequence to its deeply moving finale, Burton directs with the unmistakable passion of a filmmaker completely besotted with both his subject and the art of cinema itself. The result is an exquisitely observed portrait of a wonderfully eccentric collection of dreamers, outsiders and misfits who refused to let talent—or the occasional lack of it—stand in the way of their ambitions.

The cast is magnificent from top to bottom.

Johnny Depp gives one of the finest performances of his career, portraying Wood not as a figure of ridicule but as an irrepressible optimist whose limitless enthusiasm continually outweighed his rather limited filmmaking abilities. Burton wisely resists the temptation to turn Wood into a joke. Instead, he presents him as an innocent—a man whose imagination burned far brighter than his technical competence. Even Wood's more unconventional personal quirks are treated with warmth rather than sensationalism.

Towering above everyone, however, is Martin Landau.

His heartbreaking portrayal of Bela Lugosi remains one of the truly great performances in modern American cinema. Proud, broken, vulnerable and fiercely dignified, Landau's Lugosi is never reduced to caricature. It is an astonishing piece of acting and deserved every accolade it received.

The supporting cast is equally inspired. Jeffrey Jones is wonderfully entertaining as the flamboyant television psychic Criswell, Bill Murray brings his customary deadpan brilliance to Bunny Breckinridge, and every supporting performance contributes to the wonderfully eccentric ensemble Burton assembles.

Perhaps the film's greatest triumph is the affection with which it recreates Wood's cinematic disasters. Scenes inspired by the making of “Bride of the Monster” and “Plan 9 from Outer Space” are lovingly reconstructed, nowhere more memorably than Bela Lugosi's unforgettable battle with the hopelessly uncooperative mechanical octopus—a sequence guaranteed to raise a smile while simultaneously tugging at the heartstrings.

Rather than mocking Wood's films, Burton celebrates the extraordinary optimism that lay behind them.

The film perfectly captures the spirit of Wood and his gloriously offbeat circle of collaborators, including Tor Johnson, Vampira (Maila Nurmi), Criswell and the wonderfully assorted collection of colourful personalities who somehow believed they were changing cinema.

In a strange way, perhaps they were.

By the time the closing credits roll, one is left with an irresistible desire to revisit Wood's legendary creations once again—"Plan 9 from Outer Space”, “Bride of the Monster”, “Night of the Ghouls”, “Glen or Glenda”, “Jail Bait” and the rest of his magnificently misguided filmography.

“Ed Wood” is far more than a conventional biopic.

It is a joyous celebration of the wonderfully imperfect world of cult cinema and of those delightfully ramshackle B-movies that so many of us grew up treasuring. For American audiences, they were the Creature Features that brightened Saturday afternoons; for many of us in Britain, they were the unforgettable Friday Night Horror Double Bills, watched with a large tub of ice cream while Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing terrified us week after week.

Burton understands exactly why those films continue to matter.

Years later, he would return to similar territory with the visually sumptuous “Sleepy Hollow”, another affectionate homage to the Gothic traditions of Hammer Films. Fine though that film is, “Ed Wood” remains his masterpiece—a funny, moving and utterly heartfelt tribute to the power of imagination, passion and the glorious refusal to abandon impossible dreams.