Glen or Glenda? (1953)

In 1953, George Jorgensen had an operation to become Christine Jorgenson, in what would become the first largely publicized sex-change operation. This sensational story in the headlines interested producer George Weiss, which made it possible for the little-known director Edward D. Wood Jr. to make his first feature. As a married heterosexual and practicing cross-dresser, Wood wanted to make an intensely personal film dealing with tolerance for his lifestyle, starring himself in a cashmere sweater. For very little money and a shooting schedule of less than two weeks, Glen or Glenda? was hardly seen by anyone outside the budding exploitation circuit at the time of its release. Using a construction of flashbacks as told through rambling pseudoscience, the movie feels like an educational film strip, albeit a poorly constructed and incomprehensible one. A showcase of Wood's infamous ineptitude, the personal stories of two transvestites are spoken with ridiculous dialogue, terrible acting, and interspersed with irrelevant stock footage. Every so often, a drug-addicted Bela Lugosi would appear with some strange and pointless narration. For all the fun to be had by the silly inconsistencies, Glen or Glenda? is also increasingly dull. It may be memorable as one of worst movies ever made, but its content is not very exciting compared to the horror and sci-fi travesties of Wood's later work. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide