Detour (1945)
“Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you.”
Streamed free from the Internet Archive · no signup, no cost — this film is in the public domain.
Synopsis
Down-on-his-luck New York pianist Al Roberts hitchhikes west to reunite with his girlfriend in California. When the driver who picks him up dies suddenly, a panicked Al — sure no one will believe the truth — takes the dead man's car and identity. Then he makes a fatal mistake: he gives a ride to Vera, a hard-bitten drifter who rode with the same man and knows exactly who Al is not. She sinks her hooks in, and fate tightens its noose with every mile.
Cast
About the Director
Edgar G. Ulmer — Edgar G. Ulmer (1904–1972) was an Austrian émigré who, after the stylish hit 'The Black Cat' (1934), spent his career on "Poverty Row," making films on tiny budgets and brutal schedules. Later critics embraced him as a cult auteur who could conjure real mood and style from almost nothing — and 'Detour,' his most celebrated film, is the prime exhibit.
Why It’s Free: The Public-Domain Story
'Detour' is in the public domain because its copyright was never renewed. Under the law of the era, a film's first 28-year term had to be actively renewed around 1973 to stay protected; its producer, the bottom-rung studio Producers Releasing Corporation, had long since folded, and no one filed — so the film lapsed into the public domain. Letting copyrights expire was common for Poverty Row pictures whose studios had vanished.
Behind the Scenes
The film became a noir legend partly for how cheap and fast it supposedly was — Ulmer himself claimed a six-day shoot, though surviving records suggest a bit longer and a higher budget than the famous "$20,000" myth. To save money Ulmer reportedly used his own car for key scenes and flipped the negative on some shots so the cross-country trip would read correctly across the screen. It opened in November 1945.
Did You Know?
- Composer Leo Erdody's hands stood in for Tom Neal's in the close-up piano scenes.
- To satisfy the Hays Code — which forbade letting a killer go free — Ulmer tacked on a final shot of Al being picked up by a patrol car.
- Ann Savage's Vera later landed at #6 on Time critic Richard Corliss's list of the 25 greatest movie villains.
- Billy Halop was originally cast as Al Roberts and even screen-tested before Tom Neal replaced him just days before filming.
Reception & Legacy
Reviews in 1945 were mild — one trade called it merely "fair" — but the film was dramatically reappraised over the decades into a quintessential noir, and Roger Ebert later enshrined it among his "Great Movies." The Library of Congress added 'Detour' to the National Film Registry in 1992, and the Academy Film Archive gave it a 4K restoration in 2018.
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