Review: Final Curtain

Theatre actor Duke Moore (with Dudley Manlove narrating his inner thoughts) has just wrapped up performing a play. Staying behind in the empty theatre, his mind starts to play tricks on him. Or so he hopes it’s just in his mind.

 

Someone deprived us of an Edward D. Wood Jr. (“Plan 9 From Outer Space”, “Glen or Glenda?”) anthology TV series and I’ve never been madder about something not happening several decades before my birth. Filmed in 1957 but not recovered until 2012 after being thought lost, this isn’t actually a film. It’s a 20-odd minute pilot for a proposed TV series, and it was written with Bela Lugosi in mind for the lead before he died. Written and directed by Wood, it’s obviously terrible in the best Ed Woodian way possible. It’s little more than a curio, but if you’re a film buff or an Ed Wood fan this is one you simply must track down in whatever format you possibly can.

 

Several Wood hallmarks are here, including the casting of Duke Moore (in the Lugosi role) and Dudley Manlove, the hilariously portentous text crawl, terrible performances, and the patented scene where a character strokes a woman’s fabric, described in flowery terms by the narrator. Even Wood’s memoir, the fascinating Hollywood Rat Race got sidetracked with angora sweaters. This time we also get the added oddity of Dudley Manlove’s mincy, theatrical voice acting as voiceover to another actor, Duke Moore with his rather brutish, mean-mug looks. It’s both the best and worst thing about the pilot. Dudley Manlove (who was the ‘Your stupid minds!’ guy in “Plan 9 From Outer Space”) is so histrionic and hammy he makes even Donald Pleasence and Nic Cage seem subtle. Combine that with Moore’s absurdly over-the-top facial mugging and they’re quite the pair.

 

Plot-wise there’s terribly little here, it’s such a simple idea that you really need a good filmmaker with a sense of terror and atmosphere to pull it off. Wood, bless his angora loving heart doesn’t come close and that may even have been for the best. Hey, his work stands out even if it’s for ironic reasons. Since this is just a TV pilot, I’ll give this one a ‘No Rating’ as at least “The Man From Galveston” was eventually released as a film, even though it wasn’t intended to be more than a TV pilot. I understand entirely why the series wasn’t picked up, it would’ve been horrible and no one would’ve watched. As an Ed Wood fan, I’m truly upset that it wasn’t allowed to blossom into a series, awful or not it sure would’ve been something to behold. I would’ve absolutely hate-watched it. Seek it out if you’re inclined, it’s got historical value and a glimpse of what might’ve been from a very demented mind.

 

Rating: No Rating

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