From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Edgar Georg Ulmer September 17 1904 September 30 1972 was an AustrianAmerican film director He is best remembered for the movies The Black Cat 1934 and Detour 1945 These stylish and eccentric works have achieved cult status whereas Ulmers other films remain relatively unknown The first feature he directed in North America Damaged Lives 1933 was a lowbudget exploitation film exposing the horrors of venereal disease His next film The Black Cat 1934 starring Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff was made for a major studio Universal Pictures Demonstrating the striking visual style that would be Ulmers hallmark the film was Universals biggest hit of the season Ulmer however had begun an affair with Shirley Beatrice Kassler who had been married since 1933 to independent producer Max Alexander nephew of Universal studio head Carl Laemmle Kasslers divorce in 1936 and her marriage to Ulmer later the same year led to his being exiled from the major Hollywood studios Ulmer was relegated to making B movies at Poverty Row production houses His wife now Shirley Ulmer acted as script supervisor on nearly all of these films and she wrote the screenplays for several Their daughter Arianne appeared as an extra in several of his films Consigned to the fringes of the US motion picture industry Ulmer specialized first in ethnic films notably in UkrainianNatalka Poltavka 1937 Cossacks in Exile 1939and YiddishThe Light Ahead 1939 Americaner Shadchen 1940 The bestknown of these ethnic films is the Yiddish Green Fields 1937 codirected with Jacob BenAmi Ulmer eventually found a niche making melodramas on tiny budgets and with often unpromising scripts and actors for Producers Releasing Corporation PRC with Ulmer describing himself as the Frank Capra of PRC His PRC thriller Detour 1945 has won considerable acclaim as a prime example of lowbudget film noir and it was selected by the Library of Congress among the first group of 100 American films worthy of special preservation efforts In 1947 Ulmer made Carnegie Hall with the help of conductor Fritz Reiner godfather of the Ulmers daughter Arianné The film features performances by many leading figures in classical music including Reiner Jascha Heifetz Artur Rubinstein Gregor Piatigorsky and Lily Pons Ulmer did get a chance to direct two films with substantial budgets The Strange Woman 1946 and Ruthless 1948 The former featuring a strong performance by Hedy Lamarr is regarded by critics as one of Ulmers best In 1951 he directed a lowbudget sciencefiction film with a noirish tone The Man from Planet X In 1964 he directed his last film The Cavern in Italy Description above from the Wikipedia article Edgar G Ulmer licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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