On this day in movie history – Detour (movie & novel):

Detour

directed by Edgar G. Ulmer,

written by Martin Goldsmith,

based on the novel Detour: An Extraordinary Tale by Martin Goldsmith,

was released in the United States on November 30, 1945.
Narrated by Tom Neal.
Music by Leo Erdody.

Cast:

Tom Neal, Ann Savage, Claudia Drake, Edmund MacDonald, Tim Ryan, Esther Howard, Pat Gleason, Don Brodie, Roger Clark, Eddie Hall, Harry Mayo, Harry Strang.

Recommended reading:

Detour: An Extraordinary Tale

By Martin M. Goldsmith.

Filmed as Detour (1945), directed by Edgar G. Ulmer.

Published by Black Curtain Press.
First published 1939.
Hardcover.
ISBN-10: 1515426785
ISBN-13: 978-1515426783

Description:

Alex Roth is a musician who thumbs it out for L.A. and the woman of his dreams. Things hit a snag when a bookmaking driver Alex flags down suddenly ends up dead. With its tight, crisp writing comparable to James M. Cain and Chandler, the work translated perfectly on screen into the legendary noir "Detour," perhaps the greatest low-budget film ever made.

THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED … 1938. Alexander Roth is hitchhiking from New York to Los Angeles, where he hopes to reconnect with his self-absorbed, cutesy-poo girlfriend. A car stops to pick him up and he is soon plunged into a long nightmare from which there may be no escape. This fatalistic novel is a forgotten noir masterpiece that has languished for decades in the swamps of neglected crime fiction. In 1945, film director Edgar G. Ulmer cranked out the movie version in a couple of weeks on a microscopic budget, and it is now widely recognized as one of the greatest gems in film noir history. The novel is its equal in every way. Legendary crime fiction author Lawrence Block provides a foreword unique to this edition.

Born on this day – Ann Savage:

Ann Savage

Actress

February 19, 1921 – December 25, 2008

Credits:

My Winnipeg (2007); Saved by the Bell (1991); Fire with Fire (1986); Gang Busters (1955); City Detective (1954–1955); The Ford Television Theatre (1955); Death Valley Days (1953); I'm the Law (1953); Woman They Almost Lynched (1953); Mr. & Mrs. North (1953); Fireside Theatre (1950–1952); Schlitz Playhouse (1952); Boston Blackie (1951); Pier 23 (1951); Pygmy Island (1950); On the Right Side (1949); The Daring Caballero (1949); Jungle Flight (1947); Renegade Girl (1946); Lady Chaser (1946); The Last Crooked Mile (1946); The Dark Horse (1946); The Spider (1945); Detour (1945); Apology for Murder (1945); Midnight Manhunt (1945); Scared Stiff (1945); Manhattan (1944); The Unwritten Code (1944); Ever Since Venus (1944); The Last Horseman (1944); Two-Man Submarine (1944); What a Woman! (1943); Klondike Kate (1943); Footlight Glamour (1943); Dangerous Blondes (1943); Passport to Suez (1943); Two Señoritas from Chicago (1943); The More the Merrier (1943); Saddles and Sagebrush (1943); Murder in Times Square (1943); Boston Blackie (1943); One Dangerous Night (1942).