It seems to be generally accepted among Ulmer fans (although I can't find any source for it) that his career with the major studios was ruined by his affair with the wife of Max Alexander, a nephew of Carl Laemmle--but it's just not adding up for me. In Hollywood, where so many people were sleeping around and stealing each other's spouses, it would take a lot for a bankable director to get himself blackballed for extramarital activities. Universal was seen as a second-rate studio in the '30s, and "Uncle Carl" Laemmle was a joke in the major-studio crowd, not least for his practice of hiring his countless nephews and cousins. Max Alexander was one of those nephews, a very minor producer who'd have had no clout in the business at large. In any case, the entire Laemmle clan was swept from power, in some disgrace, in early 1936, when the bankers took over Universal. Sometimes Hollywood could be leery of someone who generated a public scandal, but I see no evidence that the Ulmer affair (minor director steals unknown producer's scriptgirl/wife) ever got any press attention.

I'm sure Ulmer was booted out of Universal over the affair, but I just can't see Jack Warner or Harry Cohn saying, "Sorry, Edgar, I can't hire you, not after you cuckolded one of Laemmle's nephews." I understand why fans of Ulmer's movies (especially Detour, the ultimate "behind the eight-ball" story) would want to see him as a victim of a silent conspiracy, but I think that requires ignoring a lot of reality.

I see two likelihoods: either Ulmer really, really didn't want to work in the big-studio system, preferring grinding out poverty-row quickies for no money (possible, but pretty unusual in that business); or the big-studio executives really didn't want to work with him. Could it be that he really wasn't as well-regarded as our current passion for oddball B movies makes us think he should have been? Or was he unpleasant to work with for reasons I haven't heard about?