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Let's clear something up right away: Contrary to popular opinion,Ed Wood is not the worst filmmaker of all time.Furthermore, his films idiosyncratic though they may beare not the worst movies ever made.

Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff should know. They've been poking fun at bad movies for 30 years, most notably as writers and co-stars for the Peabody-winning cult classic sci-fi comedy series "Mystery Science Theater 3000."

The duo has worked in recent years as "The Mads"(in reference to their villainous "MST3K" characters Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank), with live shows featuring the famously malignedWood creations "Glen or Glenda" (1953) and "Plan 9 From Outer Space" (1959).

"Alot of bad were made back then that nobody remembers," Conniff said, "but everybody remembers Ed Wood movies. And I think thats because he was a very singular, very unique talent. And I think he lacked certain skills of craft but something still comes through in his movies and personally I love his movies.

Ed Wood's "Glen or Glenda" will be riffed online by "The Mads," Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame on Tuesday, July 21.(Photo: Art by Tim Alan Holly/Courtesy of Dumb Industries)

Bealieu and Conniff, whose 2020 dates were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will take their show online for an 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 21 stream of "Glen or Glenda," featuring the pair riffing over the film. A portion of the proceeds from the tickets will support NAACP Empowerment Programs.

A psychological drama bordering on the surreal that was written and directed by Wood, who also starred in the film, "Glen or Glenda" is the saga of a cross-dresser trying to decide whether he should come out to his fiance.

The film's opening text describes "Glen or Glenda" as "a picture of stark realism."As detailed in Tim Burton's 1994 Oscar-winning biopic "Ed Wood," the director himself was known to dress in women's clothes, and Wood's girlfriend, Dolores Fuller, co-starred as Glen's fiance.

"He really put himself into his movies, especially this one," said Conniff."And they really were a reflection of his personal sensibility and I think that really comes through in his films, especially this film which was, in many ways, very ahead of its time and, especially for a movie made in the 1950s, completely unusual and unique."

While Wood's filmmaking is clumsy and his characters' views of gender identity can be charitably described as dated these days, there is a passionate earnestness to the film that's hard to deny.

Ed Wood's "Glen or Glenda" will be riffed online by "The Mads," Frank Conniff, left, and Trace Beaulieu of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fame on Tuesday, July 21.(Photo: Photo by Joe Martin/Courtesy Of The Mads)

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Sure, Leonard Maltin has said "Glen or Glenda""could well be the worst movie ever made."But in his 1994 review of Burton's film Roger Ebertwas more sympathetic to Wood's work, writing:"It takes a special weird genius to be voted the Worst Director of All Time, a title that Wood has earned by acclamation. He was so in love with every frame of every scene of every film he shot that he was blind to hilarious blunders, stumbling ineptitudeand acting so bad that it achieved a kind of grandeur. But badness alone would not have been enough to make him a legend; it was his love of film, sneaking through, that pushes him over the top."

Beaulieu and Conniff's stream of "Glen or Glenda" will let online audiences see for themselves, with plenty of jokes thrown in for good measure.

"Obviously, its a personal story for Ed Wood but its supposed to be exploitation and maybe it had that element back then there are certainly some bizarre sequences which need explaining but there is so much heart and warmth and compassion in what I think is often regarded as just, Oh, its just an Ed Wood film, its a terrible film, its the worst movie ever made," Beaulieu said. "And I think on Mystery Science Theater we proved that its not the worst movie ever made, or Plan 9 is not the worst. There are plenty in front of this one and Plan 9, or any other Ed Wood film."

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And to be clear, while the film does address gender identity issues and borrows elements from the life story of transgender pioneer Christine Jorgensen, Beaulieu and Conniff are not in the business of making fun of the transgender community.

People are concerned that we (may) mock the subject matter in this movie, and the movie takes itself so seriously and thats not our approach to this subject matter," said Beaulieu, with Conniff later adding that "were not out to do cheap jokes about transgender people. Well do cheap jokes about everything else."

There's a scrappy, D.I.Y. beauty to Wood's work. His films are by and large messy affairs, chock full of stock footage, florid dialogue and, in the case of "Glen or Glenda," nearly wally-to-wall voice-over by a pair of narrators: a psychiatrist, played by Timothy Farrell, and a nearly omnipotent figure known only as Scientist, played by fallen horror icon Bela Lugosi.

The end result was described by Beaulieu as "like an assemblage sculpture."

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I think that filmmakers who set out to be avant-garde, whether its Stan Brackhage or Jonas Mekas or Shirley Clarke or any of the people from that era of experimental filmmaking, on their best day they cant be as avant-garde as Ed Wood is without even trying to be avant-garde," said Conniff. "Theres just so much in this movie thats so bizarre.

In the coronavirus pandemic era, as artists have had to find increasingly creative ways to connect with audiences and generate income, there's a certain "let's put on a show" zeal in Wood's filmography that is downright inspiring.

It just really speaks to the creativity of Ed Wood going, I have no money, I have some friends that can help me out and Ive got some footage I can use and he crafted I used the word craft he did, he crafted a really great, entertaining movie," Beaulieu said."Now we see it in a different light because we can riff on it and still pay homage to it.

The Mads' live online riffing of Ed Wood's "Glen or Glenda," 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 21. Tickets, $10, available via Eventbrite. For more information, visitwww.themadsareback.com/event/glen-or-glenda-livestream-screening.

Alex Biese has been writing about art, entertainment, culture and news on a local and national level for more than 15 years.

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MST3K stars revisit Ed Wood's Glen or Glenda: 'Its not the worst movie ever made.' - Asbury Park Press