Description:
Edgar G. Ulmer was a prolific filmmaker whose career from the 1920s through the 1960s spanned genres from horror to science fiction and film noir. Working both within and outside the Hollywood studio system, Ulmer developed a reputation for making stylistically distinctive films under considerable budgetary constraints, an achievement that has long made his work influential among independent filmmakers. Ulmer is most often associated with the classic horror film The Black Cat (1933), which paired Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, and with the noir Detour (1945). He made films specifically for Black and Jewish audiences in addition to historical fiction, adventure films, psychological mysteries, romances, educational productions, and science fiction such as Man from Planet X (1949) and Beyond the Time Barrier (1959).
This book examines Ulmer's filmography, his personal life, and the cultural climate in which he worked. It offers detailed analyses of key productions and includes interviews with, and a foreword by, his daughter, actress Arianne Ulmer Cipes. Intended for both general and academic audiences, the study examines Ulmer's works within the broader contexts of film history, genre cinema, and the socio-cultural and industrial conditions that shaped mid-twentieth-century filmmaking.
Brief description: David Luhrssen cofounded the Milwaukee International Film Festival and is the film critic for ShepherdExpress.com. He has authored numerous books on film, music and cultural history and has lectured at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
Review Quotes: "Luhrssen and McComas explain how Ulmer's background in 1920s Vienna and Berlin imbued his low-budget movies with visuals informed by German Expressionism and characters influenced by Freudian psychology. The book focuses on the films, pairing lengthy plot summaries with cultural context and production information. This approach shines when examining his early Yiddish-language films. The amount of space dedicated to The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll is especially indulgent, with each co-author providing their own write-up. ...generous quotes from Noah Isenberg's Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins and an interview with his daughter are well appreciated.... Dual authors provide a discordant approach to Ulmer's filmography, yet students of film will appreciate this less glamorous take on the Golden Age of Hollywood."--Library Journal