Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3749 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-06-15
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The significance of Ed Wood, both man and movie, on the career of Tim Burton cannot be emphasised enough. Here Burton regurgitates and pays homage to the influences of his youth, just as he would continue to do with Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow. Everything is just right, from the decision to shoot in black and white, the performances of Johnny Depp (as Ed) and Martin Landau (as Bela Lugosi), the re-creation of 1950s Hollywood and the evocative score by Howard (Lord of the Rings) Shore. The plot struck a poignant familiar chord with Burton, who saw the relationship between the Ed and Lugosi mirroring his own with Vincent Price. Most importantly Burton responded to the story of the struggling, misunderstood artist. For all Burton's big-budget blockbusters (Batman, Planet of the Apes), he still somehow retains the mantle of the kooky niche director. And in the mid-90s, this film actually represented the last vestiges of his independent film production. Fans can only hope he'll soon return to those roots soon.

On the DVD: Ed Wood on disc has a good group commentary in which Burton is interviewed rather than expected to hold forth on his own, making his insights alongside the screenwriters, Landau, and various production heads very worthwhile. Also worthy are the featurettes on Landau's Oscar-winning make-up, the FX and the Theremin instrument employed in the score. Best of all is an extremely exotic Music Video based on that score. This doesn't seem to be a new transfer of the film, but in black and white you're less likely to notice. --Paul Tonks

Special Features
1.85 Wide Screen
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Directors Audio Commentary
Music Video
Theatrical Trailer
The Theremin
Making Bela
When Carol Met Larry
Pie Plates Over Hollywood

Synopsis
A stranger-than-fiction true story of the early career of Edward D. Wood, Jr., the undisputed "worst movie director of all time," Tim Burton's ED WOOD is nevertheless a delightful, zany, and ultimately moving film. Wood was the auteur behind GLEN OR GLENDA

Customer Reviews

impressive and ghoulishly funny, one of Burton's best
Tim Burton pulls off an original, sweet-tempered and enjoyable film once again which is one of my favorites among his arsenal. Ignored in life, mocked in death, Edward D. Wood Jr. was a real phenomenon in American cinema history, especially famous for his Z-budget filmmaking. Making a biopic about such a schlocky visionary reputed as the worst director of all-time is just a groovy idea, which only Tim Burton or Coen Brothers dare to do it.

Shot beautifully in moody black & white, the film centers on Wood's most "prolific" period, when he relentlessly churned out one movie after the next, from his 1953 beyond-awful debut "Glen or Glenda" to his "groundbreaking" 1959 sci/fi "Plan 9 From Outer Space". Paying a final tribute to this idiosyncratic director, Burton opts to portray Wood and his misfit menagerie in an overexaggeratedly sympathetic way, not to depict the darker side of his life. The film ends before his slide into porn, misery and alcoholism. The film charts Wood's tragi-comic career: his flagrant ineptitude as a writer, producer and director; his efforts to beat the bushes for cash; his indifferent, hyper-enthusiastic and over-optimistic disposition against all kinds of professional and personal setbacks; his sheer passion and child-like naiveté; his transvestite tendencies with a particular taste in fluffy Angora sweaters, blond wigs and high heels; and lastly his strange friendship with 70-year old sepulchral Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi.

The film is hilarious and witty from beginning to end, especially the recreation of certain scenes from Wood's original work (e.g. Lugosi's fight with a flaccid rubber octopus puppet and graveyard scene of "Plan 9 From Outer Space") are hysterically funny. But such a film desperately needs a some degree of gravity. The relationship and chemistry between Wood and Lugosi is the emotional core of the film. Johnny Depp gives a sympathetic and charismatic portrayal of Wood. But, this is Martin Landau who really steals the show, and he is the glue that holds the movie together. His performance is dazzling, conveying the ego, pathos, pride and real dignity of the former horror hero Bela Lugosi. This is the role which won him Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and he really deserved it.

To me, "Ed Wood" shows that life is not merely about success, fame or money; but rather about your creative spirit, and how much you cling to your principles and how much you love what you do. Burton portrays Wood as a winner, because he dared to make films yet he had absolutely no gift when it comes to filmmaking. Today, despite the fact that his films are used as a benchmark that the most awful films are measured by, that's not the problem at all.

The wonderful irony of the film is that it won two Oscars with the name "Ed Wood" written on it :))

Perfect
This movie is quite funny, and nice made. I have seen better Tim Burton films, but this one is great also

Excellent sympathetic portrayal of the eccentric director
A portrayal by Tim Burton of the film director recently voted the worst movie-maker ever, Ed Wood stars Johnny Depp as the ever-optimistic eccentric behind threadbare, C-list "classics" such as Plan 9 From Outer Space. Made entirely in black and white, Wood and his motley crew of hapless actors are portrayed with surprising sympathy as a harmless bunch of eccentrics, quite desperate for fame despite their meagre abilities.

Depp is excellent in the lead role with a superb supporting performance by Martin Landau as an ageing Bela Lugosci. Washed out, bitter and addicted to morphine, he develops a touching, mutually needy friendship with the young director in a role which won the veteran actor a Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

Ed Wood is an excellent film, which provides a fascinating insight into Wood's life and the workings of the "cheap flick" industry in the 1950s.