Final Curtain

Final Curtain (1957)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This short film was originally meant as the pilot episode for a TV series that never got off the ground but the interesting thing is that this was actually made before The Twilight Zone and it's perhaps the best thing Edward D. Wood, Jr. did in his career. The setting is an abandoned theater where an actor (Duke Moore) begins to walk around and feels that he's not alone. This film was lost for several decades until a print recently turned up and until then the only thing really known about it was that rumor had it Bela Lugosi, who was meant to play the actor, died while reading the screenplay. I think it's safe to say that this is the best thing Wood ever did on a technical level. There's no question this has a very low budget but I thought Wood actually did a good job at building up some nice atmosphere. He also did a very good job with the editing as he's trying to do a psychological horror film and one clearly influenced by the work of Edgar Allan Poe. I think this is a major discovery for fans of the director simply because it shows him doing a horror film and in a way that isn't seen in his other works. I'd add that the dialogue isn't nearly what you'd expect from Wood as it's actually decent! There are some major problems with the film though. For starters, at 22-minutes it's a tad bit too long for its own good as around the ten-minute mark you start asking yourself what the point is. You also keep wondering why the actor is walking around as it's never made clear as to why he doesn't just leave. I also didn't care for the narration by Dudley Manlove as at times it's way too over-the-top. With that said, overall this is a fairly impressive film by Wood's standards and something his fans will want to check out.

An actor (James "Duke" Moore) roams around an empty theatre after dark (though in typical Wood fashion the sky seen through a ceiling window is light). He hears creepy sounds and sees eerie things, including a female mannequin dressed as a vampire (again in typical Wood fashion her limbs can be seen moving). Also know as "Portraits of Terror" this short film (running time 22 minutes) was thought lost until 2012 and was written, directed and produced by the legendary Edward D Wood Jr, aka Ed Wood Jr. It was intended as a pilot for a planned TV series which sadly never materialised. I liked the creepy music and the female vampire but other than that not much happens. Certainly essential viewing for Wood Jr fans, I think that this would have worked better as a segment in a horror anthology film.

I've often wondered just why Duke Moore had to be dressed in a tuxedo during the first half of Night of the Ghouls. Now I know. Ed tried to sell this television pilot but got no takers. He couldn't let this valuable footage go to waste so he inserted it into NOTG even though it makes no sense in the movie, either, thus Duke having to match up with the stock footage. Wood must have learned film producing under Jules White. Final Curtain is an Ed Wood stream of conciousness, which means it's about twice as long as it should be. As a one reeler it might have been OK, but at 2 reels it's strictly for the Ed Wood completist that has to see everything.

This could have been something if someone like the great Boris Karloff would have narrated it. But, unfortunately we get Dudley (Plan 9 from Outer Space) Manlove, and that is a little bit over the top. In fact annoying would be a better term. It's a good thing I'm an Ed Wood fan, or I couldn't bear the short 20 minute running time.

"Final Curtain" is a pilot for a failed TV series from Ed Wood that was assumed lost. However, back in 2012, it was shown at a film festival and since then someone posted it to YouTube.

The film is not as horrible as some of Ed Wood's other productions...not that this is a glowing endorsement. But if you didn't know it was from Wood, you might think it was some art film!

The pilot is much like major portions of "Plan 9 From Outer Space" in that it obviously was shot without sound and to 'cleverly' get past this, there's some ultra-bizarro narration and weird edits. As I said, it seems much more like an art film than anything else....a very BAD art film. Most of it simply consist of a guy in a tux staring about an empty theater as nonsensical narration supposedly tells his increasingly distraught thoughts of terror.

While this is a bad film and it's obvious why the proposed series never was made, for laughs I suggest you show the film (without the opening credits that say it's from Ed Wood) to a pretentious friend. Tell them it's a lost Ingmar Bergman film he made for American TV...and watch them wax philosophical about this great pilot and how it would have changed TV for the better.

Overall, very bad but not nearly as bad as Wood could have done!