NZIFF Classic Film Review: "Detour" (1945).

"He went searching for love... but Fate forced a DETOUR to Revelry... Violence... Mystery!" This is Detour. This film noir directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, adapted by Martin Goldsmith, and based on Goldsmith's 1939 novel of the same title. The film follows Al Roberts, a hitchhiker, who is blackmailed by an unscrupulous woman after he takes on a dead man's identity.

By mid June 1945, Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake and Edmund MacDonald were cast in an adaptation of Goldsmith's 1939 film noir novel penned by Goldsmith himself and to be directed by Ulmer. At the same time, with a budget of $100,000, principal photography commenced and wrapped in late June. Filming took place at the Producers Releasing Corporation Studios, in West Hollywood, as well as throughout California. The budget PRC gave Ulmer was so small that the 1941 Lincoln Continental V-12 convertible driven by Charles Haskell was actually Ulmer's personal car. So, with reshoots out of the question for such a low-budget movie, Ulmer put storytelling above continuity. For example, he flipped the negative for some of the hitchhiking scenes. This showed the westbound New York City to Los Angeles travel of the character with a right-to-left flow across the screen, though it also made cars seem to be driving on the "wrong" side of the road, with the hitchhiker getting into the car on the driver's side. According to Savage, she and Neal did not get along during filming. Savage stated that Neal embarrassed her on the set by putting his tongue in her ear. She retaliated by slapping his face as hard as she could. After that incident, they did not speak to each other except when filming scenes. According to Savage, great care was taken during the postproduction of the film. The final picture was tightly cut down from a much longer-shooting script, which had been shot with more extended dialogue sequences than appear in the released print. The soundtrack is also fully realized, with ambient backgrounds, motivated sound effects, and a carefully scored original musical soundtrack by Leo Erdody. Erdody took extra pains to underscore Vera's introduction with a sympathetic theme, giving the character a light musical shading in contrast to her razor-sharp dialogue and its ferocious delivery by Savage. The film was completed, negative cut, and printed throughout the late summer and fall of 1945, and was released in November. The total period of preproduction through postproduction at PRC ran from March through November 1945.

The film stars Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake and Edmund MacDonald. Neal does extremely well in the long, difficult role of the petrified pianist whose misadventures are told in flashback; while Savage all but blisters the screen with her venoemous, snarling performance as the vicious Vera.

It is an unbelievable story of a piano player who ruined his life by hitch-hiking from New York to Los Angeles to marry his girl -- but it is told bluntly and briskly thanks to Ulmer's direction and Goldsmith's script.

Simon says Detour receives:

Also, see my NZIFF review for Monster (怪物).