Year: 1945
Director: Edgar Ulmer
Country: US
Language: English
Detour (1945) had an extremely low budget for its time, even considering it was a B-picture (a small budget movie that would play alongside the main attraction in a "double feature") Luckily Edgar G. Ulmer was a resourceful director who shot the film in six days, with seven actors, one outdoor set and six minimally furnisheed indoor sets. Big cities, such as New York, are captured by small setpieces, like a fog enshrouded set-stage.
In flashback, New York nightclub pianist Al Roberts (Tom Neal) hitchhikes to Hollywood to join his girl Sue. On a rainy night, the sleazy gambler he's riding with mysteriously dies; afraid of the police, Roberts takes the man's identity. But thanks to a blackmailing dame (Ann Savage), Roberts' every move plunges him deeper into trouble.
A great example of film noir; I actually watched this in my History of Film class at University of Winnipeg as part of a lecture of the evolution of crime pictures. Detour has everything that defines the genre; a femme fatale, shadowy cinematography, cynical narration and undetermined morality among other traits. It punctuates its dreary script by being perhaps one of the most nihilistic films ever made.
A cult classic in Europe and North America, Detour is a taut gritty picture that certainly captures the pessimistic mood of the masses near the end of World War Two. One wonders if Roberts' feelings of torment were similar to the post traumatic stress disorder that soldiers either returning home or currently at war were feeling at the time. Such a chaotic time period is pefectly encapsulated in this film.
Anne Savage, who I first saw in Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg (2007), is remarkable in her role. Her insults and nasty demeanor make you long for the days of great onscreen villains. She is a tremendous show stealer and the film is worth a viewing if only to see her acting.
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