Criterion please! Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour (1 Viewer)

[dana martin]

You were good enough to give us ace in the hole, but this is a film that need your special treatment, i hope that others agree

 

[Richard--W]

I agree. I'll gladly pay for a Criterion edition. TCM continues to air the best quality print of DETOUR, but even that leaves a lot to be desired. There's no decent print on home video unless you count the Image DVD, which was okay. All the public domain copies are extremely poor quality. Every film noir buff wants a decent print of Edgar G. Ulmer's DETOUR. A Criterion edition would sell very well.

 

[Jon Martin]

I might question that. While it is a good film, since it is in the public domain, I don't know how many people would pay Criterion prices for it, when the film isn't all that popular (except among serious film fans).

 

[Richard--W]

It must be popular to some degree, or there wouldn't be a dozen different public domain editions on the market. Somebody is buying them.

For examples, The Most Dangerous Game, The Lady Vanishes, and The 39 Steps proliferate in public domain editions, but that did not prevent Criterion from going back to the elements, cleaning them up, and releasing pricier editions that people want to own.

 

[Jean-Michel]

Who has the original elements for this one? I doubt Criterion would bother with a PD title unless they could get their hands on those, or at least something of similarly high quality -- The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps are both PD, but Criterion still licensed them from Granada/Rank so as to have access to the best-quality materials. I think The Most Dangerous Game is the only Criterion that didn't have a licensor, and it looks pretty poor by their usual standards.

FWIW, Wikipedia says Detour's production company was eventually bought out by Pathé, but that was nearly 60 years ago, so god knows what's happened since then.

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

FWIW, I believe Wade Williams controls what are the best surviving materials on DETOUR - I think he made some sort of copyright claim on the screenplay or something when he made his little-seen remake of the film. If so, I don't think Wade has ever worked with Criterion, which doesn't mean never, but does make the prospect seem unlikely.

 

[Jeff Newcomb]

This was added as an addendum to Glenn Erickson's 2000 review of the Image disc:

 

[Susan Nunes]

No way will I buy a Criterion release. Alpha Video's version wasn't bad for the most part, and I will not pay $40 bucks for a film readily available.

 

[Jeff Newcomb]

I'd buy it if the video quality was noticeably improved. To me, all of the currently available versions are (at least periodically) unwatchable. Criterion could include an introduction by Ulmer aficionado Peter Bogdaovich and an audio commentary constructed from Bogdanovich's taped interviews with Ulmer. If they could include the feature-length documentary Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen, it would certainly be worth the $30 or so that the disc would sell for at most online retailers.

 

[BrianRi]

Definitely!

There's plenty of worthwhile extras they could include that would be both relevant and worthwhile:

--Ann Savage interview or commentary (better grab her fast Criterion; nobody lives forever!)
--The remake of "Detour" starring Tom Neal, Jr. Pretty bad, but still worth seeing if you're a Detourmaniac.
--Episode of tv show "Gangbusters" starring Neal and Savage (I forgot the episode's title but I know it has the word "Red" in it).
--overview mini-docs on Neal's and Savage's careers. Especially since Neal's life somewhat mirrored his character's, as he was convicted for manslaughter later in life.
--text passages from the "Detour" novel, written by Martin Goldsmith (it has been reprinted and is readily available).
--any materials Adrienne Cipes (Edgar G. Ulmer's daughter) can contribute.