築夢痴人

昨晚窮極無聊之下，把很久以前買的 Plan 9 拿出來看。當時還寫了一點東西講這部電影：

Out of a sudden rush, I just bought Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space - the worst movie ever made - from Amazon.

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com

Sometimes a movie achieves such legendary status that it can't quite live up to its reputation. Plan 9 from Outer Space is not one of these movies. It is just as magnificently terrible as you've heard. Plan 9 is the story of space aliens who try to conquer the Earth through resurrection of the dead. Psychic Criswell narrates ("Future events such as these will affect you in the future!") as police rush through the cemetery, occasionally clipping the cardboard tombstones in their zeal to find the source of the mysterious goings-on. More than just a bad film, Plan 9 is something of a one-stop clearinghouse for poor cinematic techniques: The time shifts whimsically from midnight to afternoon sun, Tor Johnson flails desperately in an attempt to rise from his coffin, and flying saucers zoom past on clearly visible strings. Fading star Bela Lugosi tragically died during filming, but such a small hurdle could not stop writer-producer-director Ed Wood. Lugosi is ingeniously replaced with a man who holds a cape across his face and might as well have "NOT BELA LUGOSI" stamped on his forehead. Plan 9 is so sweetly well-intentioned in both its message and its execution that it's impossible not to love it. And if you don't, well, as Eros says, "You people of Earth are idiots!" --Ali Davis

I just can't wait to see how bad it is. You just have to admire Ed Wood. Tim Burton actually made a movie dedicated to this hopeless dreamer, who consistently voted the worst director ever lived, but never gave up, no matter how bad his luck was.

就像評論裡寫的， Ed Wood 是如此凡庸，但卻又有如此的熱情與誠意，讓人不忍苛責。他沒有錢、沒有好演員、也沒有才能，可是他對電影有無比的執著。沒錢買底片，所以只好盡量一次完成，演壞了也沒法重拍。沒錢弄佈景，所以飛碟內外部、飛機駕駛艙，用的明明都是同一片牆、同一個門洞，連掛在牆上的梯子都一樣。沒有教堂，只好用硬紙蓋一間小小的狗屋大小的模型，插個十字架就算數，裡頭還走出一大票煞有介事的演員。兩個碟子一樣的東西黏在一起就是飛碟，起火的時候還可以清清楚楚看到上頭有條線拉著。主力老演員拍到一半掛掉了，只好派出替身，每次出場，就老是用一隻手舉著斗篷把臉遮起來，結果反而欲蓋彌彰適得起反…

這部「有史以來最糟的電影」之中，數目多到數不清的、讓人目瞪口呆的瑕疵，除了讓我不由自主的在螢幕前傻笑以外，還帶著感動。它幾乎把所有電影能犯的錯誤一次犯盡，但與此同時，導演的人格卻透過糟透了的表面，傳達出那種無可救藥的傻勁與熱誠。我喜歡這部電影，我也喜歡 Ed Wood 這個人。我覺得所有影癡都該找來看看。

另外也順便推薦 Tim Burton 為他拍的同名傳記電影。劇情把 Ed Wood 的人生陰暗處略去大半，僅僅傳達出他那種一派天真、無法擊倒的樂觀。我不由得希望他的人生真如影片傳達的美好而自得其樂，雖然現實，令人欷吁的，並非如此。

附記：
關於 cult movie
一篇談到 Ed Wood 的 blog