The Ed Wood Box; Ed Wood: Special Edition

No one sets out to make a bad movie. In the strange case of Ed Wood, Jr., it just turned out that way. But if Wood simply made bad movies, it is doubtful he would be remembered, instead of, yes, revered. Working on miniscule budgets with no-name (and even less talent) casts (save for Bela Lugosi, who by the time of his collaborations with Wood was a decrepit drug addict), Wood turned out astonishingly bad films, including his autobiographical transvestite drama, Glen or Glenda? (1953), his crime noir drama Jail Bait (1954), Bride of the Monster (1956, Lugosi's next-to-last film), Night of the Ghouls (1959), and--of course--the sci-fi disaster Plan 9 From Outer Space (1958, the footage of Lugosi in this one is added posthumously), said to be the absolute worst film of all time. The Ed Wood Box collects all of these, as well as the engaging 1996 documentary The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood, Jr., in which viewers learn that Wood was the very model of an auteur--his personality and vision writ large in his work (he liked to wear women's clothes, even while directing). Bargain-priced at $39.99, the boxed set also features notable extras, including a "making-of" doc on Plan 9 From Outer Space, Wood's short film "Crossroads of Laredo," and an A&E Biography episode on the filmmaker. Not surprisingly, Ed Wood feels right at home amongst the outcasts and eccentrics who populate the films of director Tim Burton, who pays affectionate tribute to the director  in the unconventional 1994 biopic Ed Wood, which celebrates the artist, rather than condescends to his jaw-dropping lack of talent. Ed Wood: Special Edition is an embarrassment of riches, from the ravishing black and white cinematography and recreations of the Wood oeuvre to Martin Landau's Oscar-winning performance as Lugosi. Johnny Depp, whose voice here sounds like a Jon Lovitz character, gives a grand and committed performance as the indefatigable Wood, who didn't let faulty props, hostile studio executives, bad reviews, or public indifference get him down. A wonderful ensemble cast embodies Wood's legendary stock company, which included fellow misfits Criswell, a TV psychic (Jeffrey Jones), 300-pound wrestler Tor Johnson (as George "The Animal" Steele), fellow transvestite Bunny Breckinridge (Bill Murray), and Wood's girlfriend and leading lady Dolores Fuller (Sarah Jessica Parker). Ed Wood's DVD release has been long in coming, but the wait was worth it, as the disc includes deleted scenes, segments about the film's production and Oscar-winning makeup design, and wonderful commentary from, among others, Burton, Landau, and co-writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, who graciously offer an overdue mea culpa for the fabricated scene in which Wood meets his idol Orson Welles (Vincent D'Onofrio, dubbed by Maurice LaMarche), who complains that Universal forced him to cast Charlton Heston in Touch of Evil. In fact, the writers note, it was Heston who insisted that Welles, himself in a career slump, direct the film. Both The Ed Wood Box and Ed Wood: Special Edition are highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)