Detour 1945
Director Edgar G Ulmer's all-time great, flashback-driven 1945 film noir thriller is a deservedly famous cult B-movie classic. Zero-budgeted but rousingly handled, it's termite art. It holds the honour of being the first B-movie chosen by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry (in 1992) and it is the first Hollywood film noir so honoured. The film has long enjoyed a cult reputation in Europe and among American film buffs for its existential tone.

The main character, Al Roberts (Tom Neal), is an unemployed piano player intent on hitchhiking from New York to Hollywood where his girlfriend is a singer. When he reaches Arizona, he thumbs a ride with a dissipated gambler who relates a disturbing tale about a female hitchhiker he recently encountered. From that point on, the film travels quickly into nightmare territory with border crossings into paranoia, death and despair.

Tom Neal's real life story is probably even sadder and stranger than the luckless character he plays in Detour.

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer
Cast: Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald
Country: USA
Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

BD50, DVD9 | 1080p AVC, NTSC | 01:09:05 | 40.6 Gb + 7.48 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: English

Extras:

Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen - this archival documentary focuses on the life and legacy of director Edgar G. Ulmer. Included in it are clips from interviews with Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Peter Bogdanovich, Wim Wenders, John Landis, Ann Savage, and film historians Michael Omasta and Christian Cargnelli, amongst others. The documentary was produced in 2004. In English and German, with English subtitles where necessary. (76 min, 1080i).

Noah Isenberg - in this new video interview, Noah Isenberg, author of the British Film Institute's monograph on Detour and Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins, discusses Detour and the life and career of its creator. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in New York in November 2018. In English, not subtitled. (22 min, 1080p).

Restoring Detour - in this outstanding new program, restorers Mike Pogorzelski and Heather Linville discuss some of the complex challenges that they were presented with over the years while trying to reconstruct and restore Detour. The program was produced in 2018. (11 min, 1080p).

Restoration Trailer - original trailer for the new 4K restoration of Detour. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).