Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen / Billy Wilder Speaks

As director of micro-budgeted cult classics like The Black Cat and the noir masterpiece Detour, Edgar G. Ulmer specialized in making the most out of the limited resources at his disposal. The well-intentioned but underwhelming documentary Edgar G. Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen attempts to follow suit with much less satisfying results. Director Michael Palm spices up the talking-head format by shooting many of his subjects in the back of a car and having the ancient stars of Ulmer's films reenact scenes from his movies, but both devices lose their novelty quickly, and reek of a slightly desperate filmmaker trying too hard. Palm intersperses fuzzy but genial reflections by Ulmer's collaborators with film clips and more penetrating but less intimate observations from directors influenced by Ulmer's work, including such usual suspects as John Landis, Joe Dante, Wim Wenders, and Peter Bogdanovich, whose audio interview with Ulmer proves central to the film, and provides a rare glimpse into Ulmer's tortured psyche and knack for self-promotion. Palm tries to posit Ulmer as "King Of The B's," but the onscreen presence of Roger Corman, an icon with a much stronger claim to that title, undermines his efforts. Ulmer tells an engaging but sketchy tale of squandered genius that only realizes part of its noble ambitions.