#thedwreview

'Glen or Glenda?' was the first 'major' film project of the renowned Edward Wood Jr, immortalised in Tim Burton's 'Ed Wood' (1994) and whose infamous 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' (1959) was reviewed by myself here: https://the-dw-review.blogspot.com/2020/11/film-review-plan-9-from-outer-space-1959.html The story takes a half-drama, half-documentary format where the focal character is Glen, who is struggling with making a confession to his fiancee (Dolores Fuller - Wood's real-life girlfriend) about his interest in cross-dressing.   In this case, Glen happens to be played by the director/writer/editor/you name it under the pseudonym "Daniel Davis" - possibly distancing himself from how many finger prints he had all over this picture. Over halfway through the film, a second plot develops involving a sex change operation which, in a sign of the times, makes national newspaper headlines.  In a curious note this is where the film becomes mor...

In an era where faces on the silver screen was really the only way to see them, 'Viva Las Vegas' combined a must-see spectacle in terms of its stylistic package.  All the boxes are ticked for a contemporary rom-com filled with music, dancing and colourful cinematography.  The two headlining stars would've easily filled theatres based on their looks alone - let's be frank.  However the story itself was neither original or memorable. The 'King of rock n roll' plays a car mechanic who likes to race cars and pursue the local swimming instructor, whom he happens to meet when she takes her car to his garage ("...the engine whistles").  As he proceeds to charm her his colleague and friend fancies his chances too, as cinema's most gentlemanly antagonist. The standard Elvis Presley film by 1964 had gained a familiar structure:  boy has life, in comes girl, flirtation is teased, it appears to be on, girl has tiff with boy, boy works to get her back, girl ...