The Films of Edgar G. Ulmer

This collection of essays pays tribute to director Edgar Ulmer, the so-called "King of Poverty Row," whose classic works include The Black Cat (1934) and Detour (1945). This volume also includes an interview with Ulmer's wife Shirley, as well as the first English translation of an interview with Ulmer conducted in 1965.

Considered the "King of Poverty Row," Edgar G. Ulmer (1904-1972) was an auteur of B productions. A filmmaker with an individual voice, Ulmer made independent movies before that category even existed. From his early productions like The Black Cat (1934) and Yiddish cinema of the late 1930s to his final films of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Ulmer created enduring works within the confines of economic constraints. Almost forgotten, Ulmer was rediscovered first in the 1950s by the French critics of the Cahiers du Cinema and then in the early 1970s by young American directors, notably Peter Bogdanovich. But who was Edgar G. Ulmer? The essays in this anthology attempt to shed some light on the director and the films he created—films that are great possibly because of, rather than despite, the many restrictions Ulmer endured to make them. In The Films of Edgar G. Ulmer, Bernd Herzogenrath has assembled a collection of essays that pay tribute to Ulmer''s work and focus not only on his well-known films, including Detour, but also on rare gems such as From Nine to Nine and Strange Illusion. In addition to in-depth analyses of Ulmer''s work, this volume also features an interview with Ulmer''s wife and an interview Ulmer gave in 1965, in which he comments on actors Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, as well as fellow directors Tod Browning and James Whale.