<?php
function phptemplate_node_form($form) {

  //This places each element of the form as a variable inside the template file.
  foreach (element_children($form) as $element) {
    $vars['form_'. $element] = form_render($form[$element]);
  }

  return _phptemplate_callback('node_form', $vars);
}

// Inside node_form.tpl.php:
<?php print var_dump($variables); ?>