Flashback: Ed Wood (1994) – Tim Burton’s bizarrely touching ode to the world’s worst director

Ed Wood Jnr has the reputation of being the worst filmmaker ever. Anyone who’s had the misfortune to see his Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959) will know that his movies are not so bad they’re good, they’re so bad they’re terrible.

Still, Wood has gained a cult reputation with the midnight movie crowd over the past few decades. This loving 1994 biopic directed by Tim Burton, a self-confessed Wood fan, tells his story in an idiosyncratic fashion that perfectly suits the misfit nature of its subject. Johnny Depp plays the role of the incompetent director, and it’s one of his most empathetic, least mannered performances.

The film is a straightforward romp through Wood’s life that’s enlivened by a terrific cast of supporting actors who seem thoroughly committed to telling Wood’s story. His life was devoted to making films, even though he was not very good at it, and the story follows his efforts to make Glen or Glenda (1953), perhaps the world’s first – and worst – transvestite movie, Bride of the Monster (1955), which featured ageing horror star Bela Lugosi in a comeback, and Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Wood was a war veteran, and a transvestite who openly dressed in women’s clothing – a daring thing to do in the 1950s – and his obsession with wearing angora wool jumpers adds an extra dimension to the film. His unlikely friendship with Lugosi (played by Martin Landau, who won an Oscar for the role) is another thread in an emotionally complex film.

The brilliance of the movie comes from Burton’s decision not to deride Wood but to celebrate his boundless optimism and his ability to bounce back from his many defeats. Wood genuinely believed he was the equal of Orson Welles, and his overestimation of his own talents – he weeps with emotion watching his own movies while others laugh – becomes endearing.