With the opening credits costing more to produce than all of Edward D Wood Jrs films put together, this biopic on his life and times remains defiant auteur Tim Burton's most sincerely crafted effort, and marks the undisputed peak of his longstanding artistic collaboration with leading man Johnny Depp. Funny how it's about the worst filmmaker of all time.

Having said that, what makes this movie amazing is the way Burton taps magnificently into the mad passion that characterised Wood's efforts, creating a stunningly sympathetic portrayal of a singularly untalented filmmaker. Yet so strong was Wood's conviction that he believed he was a true cinematic maestro, and infused his horrid, B-movie productions with a mad vim. He believed -- and who's to say his way of looking at it is any less valid than ours?

In this lovely sequence, Wood -- dressed in drag -- runs into Orson Welles at a bar, and after introducing himself as a fan, sits down with the iconic director and nonchalantly tries to equate Welles' work to his own. It's a touching moment where wide-eyed wonder and delusion collide, with Burton consistently keeping the laughs under just the thinnest curtain of pathos.

Depp plays Wood in arguably the finest performance of his career, while much scene-stealing is done by the marvellous Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, the legendary silent star of the Dracula films. Aided by cinematographer Stefan Czapsky, Burton lovingly recreates a black and white world of wonder and surreality, that of campy filmdom in the 1950s -- where pulp reigned supreme.

In this unforgettable scene, Landau's Lugosi agrees to sign an autograph after a shoot -- and completely loses it when the fan, while gushing, inadvertently refers to him as [Frankenstein star Boris] Karloff's sidekick in a film.

Lugosi explodes in the sort of white-hot rage that would be so instrumental to on-screen villainy, but usually comes to actors only after trodding on their ego. Wood comes in and nods along as Lugosi hilariously rants about Frankenstein requiring nothing more than grunting, as opposed to Dracula, a role that needs talent. Wood asks if Lugosi would like to take a walk, but Lugosi snarls back that he's ready -- clearly he knows how to use what gets under his skin.

One of the finest English-language films ever made about filmmaking, Ed Wood, above all else, is Burton's ode to the dreamer.

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