Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora (1994 Video) User Reviews

An interesting yet a bit chaotic look on the cult director

[SkullScreamerReturns · 6/10 · 4 April 2020]

Ed Wood is a movie director whose films I don't want to watch very often nor rate very high but whom I still admire. His relentless quest of making movies with no budget, and being a weird individual in general has mythical appeal. I think his posthumous fame is slowly growing, and for some he's become some sort of icon of daring to do what you love even if everybody else thinks you're a fool.

This documentary looks back at the making of some of his movies, and some people that were close to the director are interviewed. The overall composition of the documentary is as crazy as Wood's films themselves. It's partly chronological but not entirely, there are clips from different movies here and there, and complete with crazy narration. It feels a bit disjointed and not very thorough when talking about individual films. But the interviews give more flesh around the bone and makes it all worth.

Recommended. But don't forget to watch Tim Burton's great "Ed Wood" movie too, which is an even better tribute to the director.

Return of the Holly-Wood

[Jos-5 · 6/10 · 6 May 2000]

Just to make one thing clear; this documentary is hysterical. To use Edward Davis Wood Jr.'s own words from his movies to tell his personal story is a good idea because he wasn't exactly brilliant in writing for the screen. The result: Approx one hour of Far Out dialogue. Totally enjoyable.

But it doesn't dig deeper into the person Edward D. Wood Jr. Tim Burton's Ed Wood showed great depth in his relationship to Bela Lugosi, this documentary only show us his relationship to angora sweaters. Enjoy it, but please don't belive it.

Zigging where the others zag

[Goingbegging · 6/10 · 4 June 2020]

'So bad it's good' - this has now become an official category of cult-movie, as reflected in the Golden Turkey Awards, reflecting an enduring public appetite for the flawed and the rejected, the offcuts fit for the bin. It is the consolation prize at a kindergarden sports day.

Around 1950, two almost-bankrupt Hollywood figures decide to lean on each other for support. One is the legendary Dracula star Bela Lugosi, who has been on the slide for half his career, brought low by multiple divorces, morphine addiction, and a strong accent that has cruelly limited his range. The other is a struggling young producer Ed Wood, trying to score hits on comically low budgets.

Half the time, he relies on economy alone, as in his westerns, largely padded-out with stock footage. For the other half, he is counting on shock, reflected in 'Jail Bait' and 'Bride of the Monster'. Unfortunately 'Grave Robbers from Outer Space' was going too far for the church elder who had agreed to finance the picture, so it had to be 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' instead. This is symptomatic of the surreal atmosphere in which he lived and worked, so the story of his films is largely the story of him.

The reference to Angora in the title relates to his own fetish for that soft material, which his mother (who had wanted a daughter) dressed him in as a child, and which he still wore on active service in the Pacific - if his claims are to be believed. A fellow-marine is brought on, apparently for no other reason than to back-up his story, so his war record remains as dubious as most historians have judged it.

You might not expect such a mixed-up fetishist to be happily married, but he managed to hold on to the shapely Kathy O'Hara for almost twenty years till his death, a helpless alcoholic, evicted from his home and dossing-down in the pits of L.A. He would be flattered to have watched this film, but probably envious at what a handsome budget they had managed to assemble for what is essentially a re-run of his own efforts from the bottom rungs of Poverty Row.

Ed-ifying Tribute

[BaronBl00d · 11 August 2001]

Ed Wood: Look Back in Angora is an interesting look into the world, work, and associations of Ed Wood, the director, the screenwriter, the cross-dresser, and the man. It is done in a very humorous way with anecdotes, archival footage, and interviews with people that knew and worked with Wood like Delores Fuller, Conrad Brooks, Stephen C. Apostolof(director of that awful film Orgy of the Dead), and his wife Kathy. You will get the opportunity to see clips of Wood as a cowboy as well as some other stuff you just won't see anywhere else. The documentary is also filled with many neat little facts about Wood's life and work too. It is mainly a piece of camp rather than a scholarly look into the work of Wood. I really liked how the narrative was pieced together as something told by Ed Wood himself through clips of his films and Wood quotations. Very innovative. Although full of laughs and guffaws, the end result is one of sadness as Wood became a bloated porno actor/writer with not a cent to his name nor a shred of dignity left. It really would have been nice to see Ed Wood enjoy the success he now enjoys posthumously.

An Instruction Book on What NOT to do

[caspian1978 · 6/10 · 22 December 2003]

If Ed Wood is remembered for anything, it should be what not to do if you want to become a film maker. Or should I say, a good film maker. Look Back in Angora is Ed Wood's life in a nutshell. His life was as weird and pointless as the film's he made. Ed Wood represents thousands of the talentless artists in the world that don't know there talentless. They crave the attention and are fueled to believe that there stories are important and need to be told. Ed Wood tried to write and direct serious films and they came out terrible. The reason, he was a terrible film maker. Wanting to be the next Orson Welles is one thing, but believing that you are as good if not somewhat talented like Welles is another. His downfall is a proper punishment of what any "professional" community theater member should get by producing trash nobody wants. The fans of Ed Wood today enjoy his work because they are a laugh and nothing more. Whether you agree or disagree that Ed Wood was an overall success in gaining a fanbase, the sad fact is Ed Wood is the worst director of all time and we need not repeat his efforts.

Oh Ed

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 9 March 2021]

There comes a time in the genre film fan's life when you suddenly make a critical reappraisal of the films of Ed Wood. As for me, I came to his films from It Came From Hollywood and the Medved brothers' books, where he was made fun of for being the worst filmmaker ever and Plan 9 From Outer Space was laughed at as the worst movie of all time.

Or maybe - just maybe - he was an auteur who never had the benefits most auteurs do, like budgets, decent acting, good sets and so much more.

Writer and director Ted Newsom - who made this and other documentaries like 100 Years of Horror - credited Lucille Ball, Sidney Salkow (director of Last Man on Earth) and Ben Brady (producer of The Outer Limits) as the people who he considered teachers. He moved from newspaper and magazine writing to books and screenplays with his partner John Brancato. In fact, working with Brancato, the team worked with Stan Lee to write early scripts for Sgt. Fury, Spider-Man and The Sub-Mariner films.

This Rhino Video* release breaks down why Wood was so essential and has interviews with Delores Fuller, Conrad Brooks and Kathy Wood, amongst others. It also has a lot of abandoned projects, like the pilot for a TV western and Fred Olen Ray's Beach Blanket Bloodbath, a movie that a dissolute Wood was hired to write months before he died.

Jim Morton wrote in RE/Search: Incredibly Strange Films - which was the bible for my film mania at one point and started my question to learn more about so many filmmakers - "Eccentric and individualistic, Edward D. Wood Jr. was a man born to film. Lesser men, if forced to make movies under the conditions Wood faced, would have thrown up their hands in defeat." That quote means more to me than a lot of this movie, whose Gary Owens-delivered patter seems to make light of the fact that Wood suffered failure after failure, finally kicked out of his home and dying alone, screaming for his wife to get him a drink.

Today, I see Ed Wood as a dreamer, a man who had visions in his head that he was unable to translate to the screen. That said, what he was able to get up there, we're still talking about years after incredibly professional and well-made movies have been forgotten. And for that, he should be celebrated. After all, Glen or Glenda is a shocking film even today, a transgressive film even without knowing that Wood himself was obsessed with cross-dressing, finding comfort in the soft comfort of angora.

*Rhino was a big deal in my teen years, putting out the Dr. Demento records and early video releases like, well, this documentary. Richard Foos, one of their execs, left the label once Warner Media bought them and he was one of the people behind Shout! Factory, which pretty much does what Rhino once did so well.

Forget "Ed Wood", this is the real deal

[Casey-52 · 9/10 · 20 May 2000]

I highly recommend this made-for-video Rhino documentary about the departed Ed Wood! If you have never seen any Ed Wood films or are wondering, "What's so great about this guy?", rent or buy this! It's a harmless inexpensive way to sample his works (from "Crossroads Avenger" to "Love Feast") and learn about what made him tick. Includes interviews with Wood starlet Dolores Fuller, Wood extra Conrad Brooks (who currently overrates his involvement in Wood's films), Wood's last wife Kathy Wood, and other acquaintances of Wood to paint a firm picture of the man behind the camera. Unfortunately, no footage of Wood's newly discovered gem "Night of the Ghouls" is shown (even though Rhino released it!) and some great public domain footage (mainly of transvestites) is never credited! Other than that, the narration is nice and campy, the clips frequent and brimming with Ed Wood magic, and the interviews informative and downright poignant. Check this out, you will either be further drawn into the bizarre cinema of Edward D. Wood, Jr. or alienate yourself from it.

Better than Tim Burton's tale

[Jonah14 · 6 August 1999]

The other reviewer may think that LOOK BACK IN ANGORA is not very good, but it is probably more hysterical than anything. Of course LOOK BACK IN ANGORA can't cover as much as the book documentary can -- it's only just over 55 minutes long!

However, using Ed Wood's own films to tell his story is ingenious.> See or buy this movie -- it's a hoot, and I learned many subtleties that NIGHTMARE OF ECSTASY did NOT touch on.

Good early doc on Wood

[Michael_Elliott · 25 November 2006]

ED WOOD: LOOK BACK IN ANGORA (1994)

*** (out of four)

A somewhat interesting documentary about Ed Wood, the man and his movies. Features interviews with Dolorus Fuller, Kathy Wood and Conrad Brooks and tells Wood's story using clips from his movies. Director Ted Newsom has several other documentaries out there, including 100 YEARS OF HORRORS and to his credit, this was one of the first Wood documents. With that in mind, the film has been passed in quality by future documentaries like THE HAUNTED WORLD OF EDWARD D. WOOD, JR., which runs double the time and features more interviews. If you're a fan of Wood then this film is a good introduction but for better stories check out the other doc.

Was available through Rhino on DVD but it's now out of print.