SFIFF: Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off Screen
If this review were an Edgar G. Ulmer movie, it would be covered in fog, have a sweeping orchestral score (public domain of course), and SFist would be a nihilistic outsider desperate for acceptance.
One-out-of-three ain't bad.
Edgar G. Ulmer, the Poverty Row director responsible for such ultra-low budget classics as Detour, The Man From Planet X, and The Black Cat, has gained a cult following amongst film geeks and independent filmmakers because he was always able to do something interesting and innovative, even while working within the confines of a very limited budget and shooting schedule. Nicknamed the "King of the B's," he could also be considered the father of independent cinema. Without Ulmer, there would be no San Francisco International Film Festival!
Image from Mischief Films.
While Ulmer's popularity has increased steadily since his 1972 death, the mystery of his life and career remain. The documentary film Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off Screen acknowledges the legends surrounding Ulmer (such as the alleged six-day shooting schedule for Detour) and dispels them (the studio records say the film was shot in 19 days). Sort of. (Turns out studios would sometimes fudge a little and record longer shooting schedules on the records to to pass off other expenses.) Ulmer's daughter Arianne Ulmer Cipes produced the film, and her stories about growing up with a director father, coupled with some narration by Ulmer himself (via an old recorded interview with director Peter Bogdanovich) do help to humanize the legend. While Ulmer wanted nothing more than to make movies, even if it meant working for studios hidden within the streets of Hollywood, he wasn't always happy about it, and one gets the sense from the film that he really wanted to be on one of those big studio lots with the big boys. In the end, big questions about his career remain (for instance, his early film work in Europe is still open to much specualtion.) But ultimately, that's fine, as legend is always more interesting than fact.
Director Michael Palm is able to breathe new life into the usually rigid talking head interview format by setting the majority of his interview subjects in moving vehicles. Directors John Landis and Joe Dante discuss their fondness for Ulmer's films while riding around the streets of Hollywood together, and as a result their conversation is relaxed, funny, and informative. Another Ulmer scholar sits in the Ferris wheel in Vienna (Ulmer claimed to be from Vienna, but was in fact born in Czechoslovakia). When real moving vehicles aren't available, Palm does the next best thing, placing other subjects, like Detour star Ann Savage, in a car on a soundstage with rear projection running behind her. How very Ulmer-esque of him.
The film is just over an hour long, but manages to pack in interviews with over a dozen subjects as well as numerous clips, some from Ulmer's rarest films. Frankly, we wished it were twice as long, with longer clips and MORE interviews. Like many an Ulmer film, its brevity and cleverness left us wanting more.
After the film, Arianne Ulmer Cipes and director Michael Palm took questions from the festival audience, letting us know that they chose to premiere the film at the SFIFF instead of the Tribeca Film Festival (take that New York!); that Arianne's efforts to restore her father's films continues (many, sadly, seem to be lost for good); and that two books about Ulmer's life and career will be coming out in the next year or so. The cult of Ulmer will continue to grow.
Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off Screen is a must see for all Ulmer fans, but should prove equally entertaing to anyone interested in the history of film, and the cinematic masters who were able to "take a rat, and make Thanksgiving dinner out of it."
Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off Screen, screens at the Kabuki on Monday, April 25th at 10 a.m. and 6:15 p.m.
Tickets can be purchsed through SFFS Ticketing.