Customer Reviews

Edgar G Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen

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The makers of this documentary assume that the viewers already know something about the king of the Bs. Taken that into account, the additional information it delivers is rather poor. It is great to have an interview with Roger Corman, but it does not reveal if Ulmer and Corman personally knew each other. There are two guys in white sneakers and beige raincoats strolling through a soggy cementery, one doing some gratuitious comment on the subject of the documentary, the other saying yeah, that's true, you're absolutely right - it has no informative value whatsoever. I thought the interviews with Ulmer's wife and daughter in the bonus material of some of the Ulmer movies released on DVD are more interesting and insightful than this documentary. The biggest treat is the playing of an audiotaped interview Peter Bogdanovich made with Ulmer somewhere in the late 1960ies. It shows that the director must have been a great storyteller and that the quality of the story probably often was more important to him than the veracity of it - not least when it concerned his biography.

"Edgar G. Ulmer - The Man Off Screen" is a much overdue tribute to a film director perhaps best known as the king of Hollywood's Poverty Row. Between 1933 and 1961, Ulmer directed countless low budget and no budget films in Hollywood, Mexico, Italy, and Spain that were catagorized not as "B" movies but "Z" movies. Starting with one of his most famously ignored classics, "The Black Cat", Ulmer managed to create minor masterpaces in various languages over the years to include English, Yiddish, Ukrainian, Italian, German, and Spanish. In addition to such title defining dramas as "Girls in Chains" and "Babes in Bagdad", Ulmer's extensive resume includes writing and directing such documentaries as "Let My People Live" and "Another To Conquer." Born in Vienna in 1904, Edgar Ulmer originally studied architecture and philosophy before working as an actor, set designer and eventually director under such veterans of German cinema as Max Reinhardt and F. W. Murnau. Like many others, Ulmer's European film career choices were cut short by the rise of Nazism and he eventually moved to California. One can only speculate as to why Ulmer seemed destined for Poverty Row pictures and relative obscurity most of his directing life. But Ulmer's place in Hollywood history was somewhat restored in the 1960s when French film critics rediscovered his work - even declaring him a "minor auteur" before his death in 1972. Watching "Edgar G. Ulmer - The Man Off Screen" might help you come to the same conslusion. Enjoy.

This is a great release from Kino. The portrait of Ulmer and the special features are great. Also, it's a real pleasure to see Isle of Forgotten Sins. While the print is not great, it's the best we'll ever see. Fantastic cast.