Glen Or Glenda, 1952, 67 minutes, BW, Screen Classics Productions. Directed by Edward D. Wood Jr.. Starring Bela Lugosi, Daniel Davis (Ed Wood), Lyle Talbot, Dolores Fuller, Timothy Farrell, Tommy Haines, Charles Crofts, Conrad Brooks, Captain DeZita. Schlock-Meter rating: 9 stars out of 10.
By Doug Gibson
I first saw Glen Or Glenda? when a copy of the video arrived as part of the press kit for the mid-90s film "Ed Wood." The copy was murky, very dark and difficult to understand. It also ended abruptly without any final credits. As a result, I wasn't too impressed.
However, I learned later there were better versions available with more of the film so I invested $10 and purchased Rhino Home Video's print. I saw a much different film that is a must for Ed Wood fans and an excellent addition to any cult movie library.
Like any other Ed Wood film, it's a ridiculous story, incomprehensible at times and very poorly acted. However, like any Ed Wood film, it is unique and the actors surprisingly inspired. The plot: A transvestite commits suicide while in drag. A cop talks with a psychiatrist, who tells the cop that society must seek to understand transvestites and those who seek to change their sex. The psychiatrist tells the cop two stories: One is of a secret tranvestite (Davis/Wood) who wants desperately to wear his fiance's (Fuller) angora sweater. The other tale recounted is of a WW 2 war hero (Haines) who wants a sex change operation. All of this is sort of overseen by a spirit (Lugosi) who sits in a chair covered with fishing net and ominously spouts nonsense like "snips and tails and puppy dog tails," "pull the string," and "the story must be told."
The acting is just awful. Wood's girlfriend Fuller doesn't rise to the level of an eighth grader playing Juliet. The scene of her expressing her mental torment when Wood asks to wear her sweater is pure camp. Throughout the film the uninhibited Wood strolls through Hollywood dressed in drag looking in store windows. The dialogue is atrocious: "Give this man satin undies ... and he can be a credit to his community and his government." Like many micro-budget productions, much of the film utilizes voice-over narration.
Still, it's a great cult fim and merits its nine stars on the schlock-meter. Wood's creative chaos is in full force and it makes for deliriously entertaining scenes. Stock footage just swirls throughout this fun film. There are shots of buffalo stampedes, steel mills pushing out hot metal, military battles, kids playing ball and more. Wood's frenetic energy keeps the pace fast. Indeed, the only time the film slows down is a few moments of cheescake semi-bondage scenes of women in underwear (not directed by Wood) that producer George Weiss added for the "raincoat" crowd.
Cult movie fans will love the montage scenes where Glen dreams of telling his fiance of his secret. He's attacked by all his friends including the devil, delightfully performed by DeZita.
Glen or Glenda? as silly as it is, was actually a fairly courageous topic for Wood to tackle in 1952. It's pomposity and lack-of-tact direction made it a cult film rather quickly. Indeed, it was haunting midnight movie houses in New York by the 1970s. 60 years ago, very few would imagine it would still be viewed often today. Watch it below:
If White Slaves of Chinatown doesn’t put you to sleep, nothing will. However, it was successful enough to spawn other films in the so-called “Olga Series” – Madame Olga’s Massage Parlor, Olga’s Girls and Olga’s House of Shame. White Slaves of Chinatown is the first in the series.
Olga’s House of Shame is considered to be the best of the series. Both White Slaves of Chinatown and Olga’s House of Shame include boring voice over narration, similar to the narration in The Creeping Terror. All the films in the series were made in 1964.
White Slaves of Chinatown is full of scenes showing enslaved prostitutes shooting up heroin and undressing in Olga’s slave pits. Olga keeps young women captive to sell them as street prostitutes to keep her drug business of heroin, marijuana and opium going. A number of scenes show the captives being tortured, but with minimal and unconvincing reaction shots from the victims. Olga burns a victim’s breast with a cigarette. Another victim is tortured with her hand pressed in a table vice.
One of the enslaved prostitutes becomes pregnant. Producer George Weiss, who produced Ed Wood’s sex change epic - Glen or Glenda, plays the doctor who performs the off camera abortion.
The opening montage of newspaper headlines is borrowed from an earlier exploitation film – The Devil’s Sleep (1951).
White Slaves of Chinatown is sold at Something Weird Video in Seattle, Washington as part of Frank Henenlotter’s “Sexy Shockers From The Vault.” Henenlotter is a B-movie, exploitation expert employed by Something Weird Video, and director of such cult classics as – Basket Case, Brain Damage and Frankenhooker.
Eli Roth, director of Hostel, and other directors of the “torture porn” genre are greatly indebted to the Olga series of the 60s. Happy viewing of this grindhouse classic!
Anyone interested in the films and career of cult director Ed Wood may take some interest in this 1951 exploitation feature – Pin Down Girl. It stars two of Wood’s stock actors – Timothy Farrell and Mona McKinnon. McKinnon’s role is a short cameo role in a brief scene. Farrell starred in Wood’s transvestite epic - Glen or Glenda, and his 1954 film Jail Bait with body builder Steve Reeves.
If you’ve seen Glen or Glenda and Jailbait, you know Farrell has a reputation for having a dry, monotone voice that makes his performances unbelievable, not to mention unbearable.
Farrell stars as crooked sports promoter named Umberto Scalli, who runs a gym used as a front for illegal gambling activities, prostitution and pill peddling.
Busty blonde bombshell wrestler Peaches Page signs a contract with Scalli to further her career. Peaches later falls in love with Scalli, but is warned by his former girlfriend Ruby to keep her distance. Scalli owes a large sum of money to the local mob kingpin named Mr. Big.
The film is full of hilariously staged wrestling matches between beefy women and wrestlers working out on low impact exercise equipment in the gym. Real life wrestling champions Clara Mortensen and Rita Martinez join Peaches in at least one scene.
Director of photography, William C. Thompson, who lensed Ed Wood’s cult masterpiece – Plan 9 From Outer Space, also lensed Pin Down Girl. The film was originally titled Racket Girls and was produced by George Weiss, whose other films include Wood’s Glen or Glenda, Test Tube Babies and Dance Hall Racket.
Watch carefully for a scene in Tim Burton’s 1994 film – Ed Wood where Wood, played by Johnny Depp, visits producer George Weiss in his office to convince him that he should direct – I Changed My Sex (later retitled: Glen or Glenda). The office wall has a poster of Pin Down Girl hanging in the background.
Alpha Video, as known as Oldies.com, recently released a DVD print of Pin Down Girl in 2012. The film has not been digitally remastered, so the image quality is in poor condition throughout most of the film. However, it is still watchable. Happy viewing!!
