Glen or Glenda (1953) on Netflix
Glen dresses in women's clothes in secret and fears telling his fiancée Barbara. A police inspector consults Dr. Alton, who tells him Glen's story.
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- Netflix2.1/5
- IMDb4.3/109,808 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes39%
Trailer
Plot summary
A police inspector investigating a transvestite's suicide consults Dr. Alton, who tells him Glen's story. Glen first asked to wear his sister's dress to a Halloween party. He is a transvestite, not a homosexual, and he hides his cross-dressing from his fiancée Barbara, fearing she will reject him. Barbara suspects another woman is in his life. Glen does not know whether to tell Barbara before the wedding or to wait until afterward. He confides in his friend John, a transvestite whose wife left him once she caught him in her clothes.
Cast
- 'Tommy' Haynesas Alan / Anne
- Charlie Craftsas Johnny (as Charles Crafts)
- Henry Bederskias Man with Hat and Receding Hairline (uncredited)
- Carol Daughertyas Woman in Nightmare (uncredited)
- 'Captain' DeZitaas The Devil / Glen's Father (uncredited)
- Helen Milesas (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
- Shirley Sperilas Miss Stevens (uncredited)
- Harry Thomasas Man in Nightmare (uncredited)
- William C. Thompsonas Judge (uncredited)
- 'Mr. Walter' Hadjwiecyzas Patrick / Patricia (uncredited)
- George Weissas Man at Transvestite's Suicide (uncredited)
- Evelyn Woodas Sheila, Glen's Sister (uncredited)
- Charles Craftsas Johnny
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Glen or Glenda (1953)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Producer George Weiss commissioned a film to exploit Christine Jorgensen's sex reassignment surgery and offered Jorgensen several roles, but she turned them all down. Ed Wood then convinced Weiss to let him direct by arguing his own transvestism made him perfect for the job.
- Ed Wood persuaded Bela Lugosi, then poor and drug-addicted, to appear in the film, reportedly paying him $5,000, though some accounts say only $1,000. Lugosi's scenes were shot at Jack Miles Studios in Los Angeles.
- The striptease and bondage vignettes in Glen or Glenda were not created by Ed Wood. They were reportedly added by producer George Weiss, who needed extra scenes for what he felt was an overly short film.
- The second part of Glen or Glenda, called Alan or Anne, was made because the distributor wanted a sex change film. It tells of Alan, a pseudo-hermaphrodite who fights in World War II in women's underwear and has sex reassignment surgery after the war.
- The British Board of Film Classification denied the film classification when it was submitted on February 26, 1958.
- In 1980, Ed Wood was posthumously named 'Worst Director of All Time' at the Golden Turkey Awards, sparking a revival that led to Glen or Glenda being reissued in 1982 with six minutes of additional footage.
