#966: ULMER, Edgar G.: Detour (1945)

ULMER, Edgar G. (United States)
Detour [1945]
Spine #966
Blu-ray

From Poverty Row came a movie that, perhaps more than any other, epitomizes the dark fatalism at the heart of film noir. As he hitchhikes his way from New York to Los Angeles, a down-on-his-luck nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) finds himself with a dead body on his hands and nowhere to run — a waking nightmare that goes from bad to worse when he picks up the most vicious femme fatale in cinema history, Ann Savage's snarling, monstrously conniving drifter Vera. Working with no-name stars on a bargain-basement budget, B auteur Edgar G. Ulmer turned threadbare production values and seedy, low-rent atmosphere into indelible pulp poetry. Long unavailable in a format in which its hard-boiled beauty could be fully appreciated, Detour haunts anew in its first major restoration.

69 minutes

Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2019

Director/Writers

Original story and screenplay by Martin Goldsmith.

Edgar G. Ulmer was 41 when he directed Detour.

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Thirty-page booklet featuring an essay by critic and poet Robert Polito.

Commentary

None.

Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen

A 2004 documentary featuring interviews with actor Savage and filmmakers Roger Corman, Joe Dante, and Wim Wenders.

Interview

With film scholar Noah Isenberg, author of Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins.

Program

About the restoration.

Janus Films rerelease trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
By Spine #