Detour

Year: 1945

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Ulmer

Review

great, very low budget film noir. this is easily one of the darkest – both stylistically and thematically – films noir that i can think of. the fog on the streets, the shadows, the ending, the femme fatale are all quintessentially, and extremely, noir. both the leads are fairly good considering the level of production that the film is. the female lead is especially caustic and venomous which adds to the relentless, dark feeling of the film. the use of music in the film is fairly interesting. the lead is a jazz musician and the first scene change comes from a music bridge – he’s listening to a song on the jukebox which reminds him of his days as a musician and the image dissolves into him playing the same song in a jazz club.