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Edgar Georg Ulmer (September 17, 1904 – September 30, 1972) was a Jewish-Moravian,〔(Year of Jewish Culture - 100 Years of the Jewish Museum in Prague )〕 Austrian-American film director. He is best remembered for the movies ''The Black Cat'' (1934) and ''Detour'' (1945). These stylish and eccentric works have achieved cult status, whereas Ulmer's other films remain relatively unknown. ==Career== Ulmer was born in Olomouc, in what is now the Czech Republic. As a young man he lived in Vienna, where he worked as a stage actor and set designer while studying architecture and philosophy. He did set design for Max Reinhardt's theater, served his apprenticeship with F. W. Murnau, and worked with directors including Robert Siodmak, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann and cinematographer Eugen Schüfftan, inventor of the Schüfftan process. He also claimed to have worked on ''Der Golem'' (1920), ''Metropolis'' (1927), and ''M'' (1931), but there is no evidence to support this. Ulmer came to Hollywood with Murnau in 1926 to assist with the art direction on ''Sunrise'' (1927). In an interview with Peter Bogdanovich, he also recalled making two-reel westerns in Hollywood around this time.〔Bogdanovich, Peter (1997) (New York: Knopf) ISBN 978-0-3454-0457-2 〕 The first feature he directed in North America, ''Damaged Lives'' (1933), is a low-budget exploitation film exposing the horrors of venereal disease. It was shot in Hollywood, with a medical reel provided by the American Social Hygiene Association, for the Canadian Social Health Council and premiered in Toronto.〔Firsching, Robert, ("Damaged Lives" (review) ), ''Allmovie''; Rist, Peter (2001). ''Guide to the Cinema(s) of Canada'' (Westport, Conn., and London: Greenwood Press), p. 77. ISBN 0-313-29931-5. Kenneth Turan's claim that the film was "sponsored by the American Social Hygiene Society" (p. 364) both misnames the U.S. group and misstates its role in the film.〕 His next film, ''The Black Cat'' (1934), starring Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff, was made for a major studio, Universal Pictures. Demonstrating the striking visual style that would be Ulmer's hallmark, the film was Universal's biggest hit of the season.〔Mank, Gregory William (1990). ''Karloff and Lugosi: The Story of a Haunting Collaboration'' (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland), p. 81.〕 Ulmer, however, had begun an affair with Shirley Beatrice Kassler, who had been married since 1933 to independent producer Max Alexander, nephew of Universal studio head Carl Laemmle. Shirley's divorce in 1936 and her subsequent marriage to Ulmer the same year led to his being exiled from the major Hollywood studios. Ulmer would spend most of his directorial career making B movies at Poverty Row production houses.〔Cantor, Paul A. (2006). "Film Noir and the Frankfurt School: America as Wasteland in Edgar G. Ulmer's ''Detour''," in ''The Philosophy of Film Noir'', ed. Mark T. Conard (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky), p. 143. ISBN 0-8131-2377-1.〕 His wife, now Shirley Ulmer, would act as script supervisor on nearly all of his films, and she wrote the screeenplays for several. Their daughter, Arianne, appeared as an extra in several of his films. Consigned to the fringes of the U.S. motion picture industry, Ulmer specialized first in "ethnic films," notably in Ukrainian—''Natalka Poltavka'' (1937), ''Cossacks in Exile'' (1939)—and Yiddish—''The Light Ahead'' (1939), ''Americaner Shadchen'' (1940).〔Turan, Kenneth (2004). ''Never Coming To A Theater Near You: A Celebration of a Certain Kind of Movie'' (New York: PublicAffairs), p. 364. ISBN 1-58648-231-9.〕 The best-known of these ethnic films is the Yiddish ''Green Fields'' (1937), codirected with Jacob Ben-Ami. Ulmer eventually found a niche making melodramas on tiny budgets and with often unpromising scripts and actors for Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). His PRC thriller ''Detour'' (1945) has won considerable acclaim as a prime example of low-budget film noir, and it was selected by the Library of Congress among the first group of 100 American films worthy of special preservation efforts. In 1947, Ulmer made ''Carnegie Hall'' with the help of conductor Fritz Reiner, godfather of the Ulmers' daughter, Arianné. The film features performances by many leading figures in classical music, including Reiner, Jascha Heifetz, Artur Rubinstein, Gregor Piatigorsky and Lily Pons.〔Cantor (2006), p. 150.〕 Ulmer did get a chance to direct two films with substantial budgets, ''The Strange Woman'' (1946) and ''Ruthless'' (1948). The former, featuring a strong performance by Hedy Lamarr, is regarded by critics as one of Ulmer's best. In 1951 he directed a low-budget science-fiction film with a noirish tone, ''The Man from Planet X''. He directed his last film, ' (1964), in Italy. Ulmer died in 1972 in Woodland Hills, California, after a crippling stroke. He is interred in the Hall of David Mausoleum in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, CA. His wife, Shirley Ulmer, is interred nearby. Commemorating the 30th anniversary of his death, a three-day symposium of lectures and screenings was held at New York City's New School in November 2002. In 2005, researcher Bernd Herzogenrath uncovered the address where Ulmer was born in Olomouc. A memorial plaque commemorating Ulmer's birth home was unveiled on September 17, 2006, on the occasion of Ulmerfest 2006—the first European academic conference devoted to Ulmer's work. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edgar G. Ulmer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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