A great example of the dark and light world of Tim Burton. That and my huge crush on Winona Ryder! – Will
A man with scissors for hands is taken in by a family and falls in love with their daughter.
Directed by – Tim Burton
Written by – Tim Burton, Caroline Thompson
Starring – Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Robert Oliveri, Conchata Ferrell, Caroline Aaron, Dick Anthony williams, O-Lan Jones, Vincent Price, Alan Arkin, Susan Blommaert, Linda Perri, Biff Yeager, Marti Greenberg, Bryan Larkin, John McMahon
With the families recent trip to the Tim Burton exhibit running at the TIFF Bell Lightbox building in Toronto I figured it would be a good time to visit some of the great films of Burton that I’ve always enjoyed. It was the exhibit that reminded me of those films and it seemed to spark an interest in the kids about the movies. There are certainly a lot of films to choose from but I’ve always preferred the earlier works of Burton. While his style hasn’t drastically changed over the years, I find the early works have a bit more of the dark and quirky touch to them. Edward Scissorhands sits almost in the middle of his work with a few feature films and a collection of short films coming before it and my original draw to the film would have been my huge crush on Winona Ryder. I’ve come to enjoy more than just her in the movie over the years though!
The figure of Edward is quite sinister looking but his intentions are always pure. It’s this odd balance that sits at the center of many Burton films. The results may look monstrous but inside is always a caring heart. In contrast to the dark, foreboding house on top of the hill that Edward lives in is the brightly coloured town below. Cookie cutter houses painted in varying neon colours filled with husbands who all leave for work at the same time and wives who rush home to cook dinner hide the real monsters of the story. Secrets are whispered behind backs and Edwards life is turned upside down when the townspeople decide that Edward is no good. It’s almost the suburban Frankenstein story. Misunderstood monster and angry pitchfork wielding townsfolk.
When Peg (Dianne Wiest) brings Edward (Johnny Depp) home she doesn't realize the trouble she's starting.
Johnny Depp plays the role of Edward to a naive perfection and has gone on to be Burton’s muse. It’s unfortunate that his performances don’t carry the same weight anymore but the childish way he portrays Edward was still new at this time. Dianne Wiest as the cares-too-much mother Peg and Alan Arkin as the doesn’t-care-enough dad Bill are great. I really enjoyed Arkin in his role as the typical dad. He manages to completely ignore everything that is going on around him while still dishing out life advice in an attempt to make Edward a man. While Winona Ryder as Kim was a pleasure to look at, her performance left a little to be desired. Everything she did just seemed a little flat and her roles over the years have been hit or miss for me. There’s moments where she shines in Edward Scissorhands but overall it was the weakest role in the film. That’s too bad since her character plays one of the bigger parts of the movie as the girl who Edward falls in love with.
There's so many great moments of imagery in the film that blend the beautiful and the strange.
The film is quite enjoyable but the real star of the movie is the incredible design work. It’s not as out there as Beetlejuice was but Edward’s home and the inventions that fill it, courtesy of Vincent Price as the Inventor, are pure Burton. The strange town below Edward’s home is probably even more frightening than anything else. The clockwork nature of how everything works and the way it looks too perfect screams madness really. You know that nothing good is going on behind the brightly coloured doors. The film ends on such a bittersweet note but lacks the emotional punch with the flatness of Ryder’s performance. It could have been so much better had Ryder really delivered. In the end it’s still a great Burton work that I’ve always enjoyed and it certainly stands out as one of those weird flicks.
Under the marquee – Will
Definitely one of his best works. Good story, lots of heart and laughs.
Funny story… Just previous to the movie hitting theaters, I composed an ‘orchestral’ score for our 4th year university film, which had a title sequence consisting of two kids (dressed in a prince/princess costumes) dancing to a waltz I made. What was neat was that when my friend and I went to see Edward Scissorhand, we were both struck by how much the title music was similar to the title music of my film. One day, I really need to put them side by side and compare them. I think they are pretty close!
Actually, previous to that, I was reading an article about Danny Elfman, and how he does music… and was surprised to read that I am very much like him… We compose by ear, and often ‘play a soundtrack in our head’ as we do/observe things in real life.
Anyway, the main thing I wanted to mention…
I’m not sure if this is truly the case, but I supect (and thought I heard, long ago) that the character of Edward is actually inspired/based on one that I myself am familiar with from my childhood in Europe. There was a famous children’s book (‘Struwwelpeter’) which is translated as ‘Shaggy Peter’, comprising of a collection of rather scary and nasty short stories (like nursery rhymes), about misbehaving children who get some (often) horrific punishment for their actions… similar to how original childrens stories used to be (before they candycoated them).
The front cover illustration, of Peter, was burnt into my mind at an early age, and scared the hell out of me (…and the engraving illustrations throughout the book still creep me out to this day). There is also a character (I believe he was called ‘Scissorman’) who had a large pair of scissors that he… well… let’s just say ‘uses to teach one of the misbehaving children a lesson’. I imagine Edward is a rough mix of him and Peter.
You can actually still buy the book, although I would STRONGLY suggest getting the original version, and not the ‘contemporary’ version, as the old illustrations are priceless. If you look around, you can actually find the full book online. There’s even a play, I believe, called ‘Shock Head Peter’, which is another name translation that the book goes by.
Here’s the wiki of the (original) book: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter
One of the other interesting things (for me) in this film was the appearance of Anthony Michael Hall, who many of us hadn’t seen for a long time previous to that. Many people didn’t even recognize him (from his far more younger, frail appearance in his previous works, like ‘Weird Science’).
Arkin really was great in this one, and I think it introduced/re-introduced him to the many people. I didn’t find him ‘not caring enough’, but more of a ‘don’t let things get you down’ kind of mentality. He was perhaps wise in not getting too wrapped up in the craziness happening around him… even with the regular (crazy) suburban life before the films main events.
With Vincent Price passing away 3 years after this film, his on screen death seems all the more haunting/sad.
Price still had that spark in his eye though but you could see that he just couldn’t do as much as he probably wanted to. HAHA! Anthony Michael Hall! He was a douche in this one. What the hell does that guy do now anyway?
I’m not sure what the inspiration was for Edward and I’m wondering if there’s something in that giant freaking art book we bought at the exhibit over the weekend. I’d be interested to hear what the hell Burton’s inspiration is because it’s gotta be pretty warped!
For me Burtons best work next to “Ed Wood” This film exemplifies an artist at his prime, long before conforming to sentimentalism that plagues his works today.
I love Ed Wood and it was actually the next film I was going to watch. I think that Ed Wood may just be my favorite Burton film and it’s certainly one of my favorite films period.
I’ve always found it too melancholic and sad to truly love but there’s no denying Depp is wonderful and the production design is fantastic.
It’s bittersweet which is a nice change from the typical love stories I’ve been watching lately.
Edward Scissorhands is downright charming, even with its tragic ending and I am in love with the Vincent Price scene. And you are so right, the set piece and enviroments are magnificent! But when it comes to Burton, I’m all about ED WOOD and PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE!! I freaking LOVED Pee-Wee! I even started my own foil ball in Pee-Wee’s honor (it only got as big as a soccor ball before it met its tragic end).
I was only going to do Burton reviews until Friday but then I couldn’t fit Beetlejuice and Pee-Wee! I may have to stretch the reviews until Saturday!
I also wish I could see this soccer ball sized ball of tin foil!
My opinion on this one changed immensely between the first time I ever saw it and the most recent time I checked it out. It’s not like I went from “like” to “hate”, here, but it did feel almost twee and even sometimes a bit forced in its fantasy. It still works for me, mind, but not quite as seamlessly as it did when I was younger.
I still really enjoy this one but I can see what you mean about the flick. It didn’t seem to have as much working for it as I may have remembered from earlier viewings. It didn’t really change my opinion too much though.