Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space: The Worst Movie Ever?

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The Worst Film of All Time by The Worst Director of All Time. So claimed the 1980 book The Golden Turkey Awards by Michael and Harry Medved regarding the film Plan 9 from Outer Space and director Edward Wood Jr AKA Ed Wood. 

But this very title is one of the reasons behind the revival of the film and of Ed Wood. The film has issues with continuity, set design, dialogue and a coherent ‘Plan 9’ but something about the film appeals to a subset of film lovers. Perhaps it’s the flashes of style, the joy in its failings or perhaps it’s a recognition of something beyond the traditional and often formulaic nature of mainstream narrative filmmaking. Today I speak with two wonderful film academics and fans of the film. 

The Experts 

Mark Bould is a professor of Film and Literature at the University of West England, Bristol. He has written/edited extensively about science fiction cinema. 

Rodney F Hill is a Professor of Film at the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University and has written extensively about film. 

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Chapters 

00:00 Introduction 

01:28 Ed Wood: Hollywood, Kubrick and Corman 

05:04 Glen or Glenda, the production code and censorship 

12:39 Plan 9 and the Baptist Church 

14:33 Bela Lugosi and the rest of Ed Wood’s crew 

20:35 The Amazing Criswell 

23:23 Plan 9: An unconventional classic 

25:50 Why my guests love the film 

34:04 Bad science 

35:46 The more traditional aspects Plan 9 

37:22 The Worst Film of All Time and The Worst Director of All Time 

39:57 Ed Wood the outsider and the Church of Ed Wood 

43:14 Comparison to mainstream films 

45:21 The Legacy 

48:08 Recommendations 

50:37 Save the Prince Charles Cinema 

NEXT EPISODE! 

The next episode we will be discussing The Blob (1958) which is available to rent and buy online in many places. You can also watch the film on the Just Watch website which was quite unexpected! (And remember folks, Steve McQueen is supposed to be 17 years old in this film!)

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