Included in this group are little-known films such as the Yiddish film The Light Ahead, the Ukrainian Cossacks In Exile and the African-American Moon Over Harlem, all made around 1939. Ulmer and Shirley moved to New York, where Ulmer began making small films for specialized, ethnic audiences. Shirley divorced Kassler and remarried Ulmer, a turn of events that led to a severe blackballing Laemmle used his considerable influence to turn Ulmer into an industry pariah.
During his time at Universal, Ulmer began a love affair with Shirley Kassler Alexander, wife of Max Alexander (who in turn was nephew to Universal top executive Carl Laemmle). In 1934, he reached the highpoint of his career at Universal with The Black Cat, which boasts a rare screen appearance of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the same film. Ulmer came to Hollywood in 1923, where he began work at Universal working with the likes of Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmark, and William Wyler. Caligari and Fritz Lang’s M, to name a few. Murnau’s The Last Laugh, Robert Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr. He worked on all the most important contributions to the silent expressionist cannon: Paul Wegener’s The Golem, F.W. Ulmer got his start as a set and production designer at the heart of German expressionism. The film’s darkness in both style and content owes much to its fabled director, Edgar G. “Have you ever seen Detour?” she asked me.ĭetour is one of the blackest film noir ever produced during the classic 1935 to 1955 period. “You know Bogart isn’t a necessary prerequisite.” “How about Key Largo?” I gushed, “ The Big Sleep?” She mentioned that she hadn’t screened any of the old film noir lately. Baker and I were discussing the finer points of the Golden Age. Baker’s only stipulation was that no one in attendance could have already seen the film she selected. Baker invited a number of her students to her home for a Sunday Night Film Salon, featuring booze, finger-food and a movie.
She was a historian first and a “film freak” second. Baker, the professor, developed a close relationship with each student. In my final undergraduate year I enrolled in a tiny history course. Yes, Fate or some mysterious force can put the finger on you or me, for no good reason at all.” Someday a car will stop to pick me up that I never thumbed. But one thing I don’t have to wonder about, I know. “I keep trying to forget what happened and wonder what my life might have been like if that car of Haskel’s hadn’t stopped. This grade ‘B’ suspenser is one of the darket studies in film noir.
0 kommentar(er)
