Its Lugosi's 'presence', and all the stock footage, - inappropriate or otherwise, - that really does it for me.colinr0380 wrote:I actually rewatched Glen or Glenda? in the last week or two. It is fascinating, even-handed and quite beautiful in its way of non-patronisingly (although often amusingly!) describing the differences between transvestites and transexuals through two case studies. Its also surprisingly moving, with some of the off-kilter filmic moments just adding to the feeling of a very unorthodox educational film. I actually learned quite a lot from it!
Although I'm not sure I'd be daring enough (yet!) to put in on a 'top 50 from the 50s' list when the decade is so full of other, even higher, achievements in filmmaking.
As a piece of 'documentary', or even 'social realism', it doesn't cut the mustard