{"id":19295,"date":"2011-08-25T13:32:35","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T20:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19295"},"modified":"2021-01-26T21:56:27","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T04:56:27","slug":"glen-or-glenda-i-led-two-lives-i-changed-my-sex-he-or-she-1953","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19295","title":{"rendered":"Glen or Glenda \/ I Led Two Lives \/ I Changed My  Sex \/ He or She (1953)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Only the infinity of the depths of a man&#8217;s mind can really tell the story.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Poster-198x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"198\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19296\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Poster-198x300.jpg 198w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Poster-677x1024.jpg 677w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Poster.jpg 1059w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA psychiatrist (Timothy Farrell) tells a concerned policeman (Lyle Talbot) the story of two individuals struggling with gender identity: a transvestite (Ed Wood) debating how to tell his fiancee (Dolores Fuller) about his cross-dressing predilection, and a transsexual (Tommy Haynes) about to undergo surgery.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bela Lugosi Films<\/li>\n<li>Ed Wood Films<\/li>\n<li>Gender Bending<\/li>\n<li>Morality Police<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nAny film fanatic who&#8217;s seen Tim Burton&#8217;s must-see biopic <em>Ed Wood<\/em> (1994) will be keenly interested to (re)visit this &#8220;utterly perverse, personal film by Edward D. Wood, Jr.&#8221;, &#8220;making his directorial debut&#8221; and starring (under a pseudonym) in the title role. Originally intended to capitalize on the notoriety of <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Christine_Jorgensen\">Christine Jorgensen<\/a> (whose story as the first widely known recipient of a sex change operation was later filmed as a &#8220;straight&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1585\">biopic<\/a>), Ed Wood saw the film as an opportunity to simultaneously address his own gender-bending predilection: transvestism. As Peary notes, &#8220;the picture&#8217;s treatment of [this issue] is serious and sensitive&#8221;, with Wood daring to &#8220;defend transvestites, saying that if allowed to wear women&#8217;s clothing they&#8217;ll be credits to their communities and government&#8221;. Peary argues that &#8220;one must be impressed by this film for the very reason that it takes a stand on a subject that surely was in 1953 not even acceptable enough to be considered controversial&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>He also points out that &#8220;Wood dares to incorporate footage that was obviously influenced by surrealists and experimental filmmakers&#8221;, noting that it&#8217;s &#8220;no matter that this footage is absolutely ridiculous&#8221;, given that &#8220;it shows Wood had an imagination&#8221;. Indeed, the surreal dream sequence occurring midway through the film is actually filled with such genuinely provocative imagery that, at the very least, you&#8217;ll sit up and pay attention &#8212; thus giving credence to the theory (espoused by some of Wood&#8217;s cult fans) that he may have been more of a maverick (amateur) <em>auteur<\/em> than merely the &#8220;bad director&#8221; he&#8217;s so frequently dismissed as. Meanwhile, those who&#8217;ve seen <em>Ed Wood<\/em> (or read about <em>Glen or Glenda<\/em>&#8216;s production history) will know that Bela Lugosi was cast simply because of his name and his friendship with Wood, who wanted to provide him with some work. However, his role here is truly limited to that of an &#8220;absurd narrator&#8221; (&#8220;Pull the string! Pull the string!&#8221;); as Peary puts it, &#8220;Who knows what he is talking about?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A truly groundbreaking look at a taboo subject<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Taboo.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Taboo.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Taboo.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Taboo-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Taboo-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The impressively surreal dream sequence<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19299\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream2.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream2-128x85.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/Glen-or-Glenda-Surreal-Dream2-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as one of Ed Wood&#8217;s most infamous cult films.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Important Director<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0045826\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/05\/22\/movies\/bevare-bevare-it-s-lugosi.html\">NY Times Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stomptokyo.com\/movies\/g\/glen-or-glenda.html\">Stomp Tokyo Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/fantasy\/glen-or-glenda-1952.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.qnetwork.com\/index.php?page=review&#038;id=339\">Q Network Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/glen-or-glenda\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Only the infinity of the depths of a man&#8217;s mind can really tell the story.&#8221; Synopsis: A psychiatrist (Timothy Farrell) tells a concerned policeman (Lyle Talbot) the story of two individuals struggling with gender identity: a transvestite (Ed Wood) debating how to tell his fiancee (Dolores Fuller) about his cross-dressing predilection, and a transsexual (Tommy Haynes) about to undergo surgery. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Bela Lugosi Films Ed Wood Films Gender Bending Morality Police Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Any&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=19295\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19295"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66273,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19295\/revisions\/66273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}