Detour 1946

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Detour ★★★ 1946

Considered to be the creme de la creme of “B” movies, a largely unacknowledged but cult-followed noir downer. Well-designed, stylish, and compelling, if a bit contrived and sometimes annoyingly shrill. Shot in only six days with six indoor sets. Down-on-his-luck pianist Neal hitches cross-country to rejoin his fiancee. His first wrong turn involves the accidental death of the man who picked him up, then he's en route to Destiny with a capital “D” when he picks up fatal femme Savage, as vicious a vixen as ever ruined a good man. Told in flashback, it's also been called the most despairing of all “B”-pictures. As noir as they get. 67m/B VHS, DVD . Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald, Tim Ryan, Esther Howard, Don Brodie, Pat Gleason; D: Edgar G. Ulmer; W: Martin Goldsmith; C: Benjamin (Ben H.) Kline; M: Leo Erdody. Natl. Film Reg. '92.