Renowned as “the worst film ever made” Glen or Glenda is cast into the camp trash can of B-Movie Aesthetics. Cast in the dies of sexploitation B-movies Glen or Glenda is perceived to be a poorly crafted B-Movie created to justify Ed Woods Transvestism, but beneath the surface of it’s reputation lays a genre crossing film, with a mix of classic 1950’s Education Movie and the formula for a Film Noir, Woods Glen or Glenda is an example of a pure cultural document of the Eisenhower Era.

With its reputation peeled away and its poor workman ship overlooked Glen or Glenda falls into place in 1940’s American film noir. It’s portrayal of the darker side to society, concentrating on Human Depravity, Perversion, Manipulative Sexuality, Failure, Despair and the “Forbidden”, film noir also implied a certain cinematic style — the use of light and shadow, nightmare sequences, voice-over narration, flashbacks, “eminent” doctors, hard-boiled detectives, and a seedy, urban landscape to portray a world gone wrong. Wood was heavily influenced not only by noir predecessors, such as Double Indemnity (1944), The Maltese Falcon (1941), and Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), but also by the horror movies of his idol, Bela Lugosi. In fact, Glen or Glenda, like Tod Browning’s horror film Freaks begins with a typically noir disclaimer: “In the making of this film, which deals with a strange and curious subject, no punches have been pulled — no easy way out has been taken. Many of the smaller parts are portrayed by persons who are, in real life, the characters they portray on the screen. This is a picture of stark realism — taking no sides — but giving you the facts — all the facts — as they are today.”

Film Presented by Alan Hook