Spanning (as of this writing) five volumes, All Day Entertainment continues to release rare gems directed by Edgar G. Ulmer that have languished or disappeared from public viewing for decades.

As detailed in the featurette “Daughter of Edgar Ulmer,” Arianne Ulmer Cipes explains her efforts to track down the copyright holder of “Daughter of Daughter Jekyll” when she was informed by Warner Bros that the distribution rights had reverted back to the original holder – the film's writer/producer, Jack Pollexfen. Promising proper storage and distribution, Cipes was able to supply materials for the DVD, and recorded an on-camera session for posterity, also outlining the mandate of her corporation, set up to preserve her father's work.

Brimming with pride, Cipes describes her father as a precursor to the film auteur: with cinematographer and art director among his roles, Edgar G. Ulmer was a unique filmmaker capable of multi-tasking, though physical and time demands notwithstanding, his practice of making films in record times (“Jekyll” was filmed in just six days) certainly required a need to focus and delegate.

Ulmer as auteur isn't heavily discussed by Cipes; her emphasis lies in showcasing his work as an influential independent filmmaker for the new breed of moviemakers that can now achieve low-budget miracles via digital technology. She does err at one point, though, in regarding Ulmer's “The Man from Planet X” (1951) as the first true science-fiction film, forgetting the fanciful short “Trip To The Moon” (1902) by Georges Méliès, and Fritz Lang's epic “Woman In The Moon,” a 1929 classic that's largely credited with introducing the 3-2-1 backwards countdown convention for the genre; but on the whole, Cipes paints a good portrait of Ulmer as an artist, and fans can find more detailed featurettes in some of the other Ulmer volumes.

The disc's second featurette is “At Home with John Agar,” where the late actor described his entry into film after a discussion with producer David O. Selznick, and offered a great anecdote concerning an audition for director John Ford. Though he briefly mentioned “Daughter of Dr. Jekyll,” Agar gave a good summation of his years working for Universal, and “Jekyll” marks one of his first freelance ventures after leaving the large studio when monster movies were the only choices being offered to him. The DVD's booklet also follows up with a brief essay on Agar and Ulmer, with some generous quotations by the director from a 1965 interview.

The disc also includes some rare production stills, lobby cards, and examples of vintage production art (replicated with gusto on the DVD sleeve). There's also a trailer in good condition, exploding with the usual publicity hype, and a montage of money shots in full screen. (Oddly, the trailer hides the killer's identity, whereas the poster art make it pretty clear who's not being very sociable with the neighbours.)

An active producer at legendary B-movie studio PRC until the late Forties, “Daughter” was made for Allied Artists Corporation, and while filmed open matte (1.33:1), the DVD contains the film matted to 1.85:1 anamorphic, as was done for its original theatrical exhibition. Visually, the film print varies in quality, with compression quite active during grainy, soft-focus and misty night shots. The interior scenes look very good, with decent contrast levels between whites and various gray levels, and the soundtrack has been digitally cleaned up, including an isolated music and sound effects track which showcases the classic stock music used for the production.

For more information on the production of this release, read our interview with All Day's bigwig, David Kalat.

© 2005 Mark R. Hasan