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Otto Preminger |
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Director
/ Producer |
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1906 - 1986 |
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Born December 5,
Vienna, Austria |
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Key
Production Country: USA |
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Key Genres:
Drama, Psychological Thriller, Film Noir, Mystery, Romance, Melodrama, Historical Film, Romantic Drama, Comedy |
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Key
Collaborators: Louis
Loeffler (Editor), Lyle Wheeler (Production Designer), Sam Leavitt
(Cinematographer), Joseph LaShelle (Cinematographer), Dana Andrews
(Leading Player), Leon Shamroy (Cinematographer), David Raksin
(Composer), Gene Tierney (Leading Player), Burgess Meredith (Character
Player), Wendell Mayes (Screenwriter) |
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Highly Recommended:
Laura (1944)*#, Fallen Angel (1945)#, Daisy
Kenyon (1947), Whirlpool (1949)#, Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)#, Angel
Face (1953)*#, Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Anatomy of a Murder (1959)* |
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Recommended:
Forever
Amber (1947), Advise and Consent (1962) |
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Worth a Look: The Fan (1949), The Moon is Blue (1953), Carmen Jones (1954), River of No
Return (1954), The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), The
Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Saint Joan (1957), Porgy and Bess
(1959), The Cardinal (1963),
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965), In Harm's Way (1965), The Human Factor
(1979) |
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Approach with Caution:
The 13th Letter (1951),
Exodus (1960), Skidoo (1968), Such Good Friends
(1971) |
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Duds: In the Meantime, Darling (1944) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section; #
Listed in TSPDT's
250 Quintessential Noir Films
section. |
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Links: [
Amazon
]
[
IMDB ] [
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Senses
of Cinema: Great Directors ] [
Film Reference ]
[
Dana
Andrews on Working with Otto Preminger ] [
Reel Classics ] [
Chicago Reader:
"Bonjour Tristesse" ] [
Filmbug Biography ] [
Wikipedia ] [
New York Sun Article (2006)
] [
Undercurrent Article (2006) ] [
New Yorker Article (2007) ] [
Otto Preminger.com
] [
indieWIRE Article (2011) ] |
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Books:
[
Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King ] [
The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger ] [
Preminger:
An Autobiography ]
[
Otto Preminger ] |
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"The
public persona of Austrian-born Otto Preminger has epitomized
for many the typical Hollywood movie director: an accented,
autocratic, European-born disciplinarian who terrorized his
actors, bullied his subordinates, and spent millions of dollars
to ensure that his films be produced properly, although
economically. Before the Cahiers du Cinéma critics began
to praise Preminger, it may have been this public persona, more
than anything else, which impeded an appreciation of Preminger's
extraordinarily subtle style or thematic consistencies."
-
Charles Derry (International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers,
1991) |
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"In the 60s,
Preminger made a comfortable transition to the wide-screen
format, which seemed to agree with his preference for long takes
and camera movement over cutting and reaction shots. Although no
consistent theme is discernible in his pictures, there are some
basic ingredients that are common to most, such as the objective
camera viewpoint and a fascination with the duality and
ambiguity of character." -
(The
MacMillan International Film Encyclopedia, 1994) |
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"Preminger's
was an uneven career, but at its best, his probing scepticism
served to undermine initial prejudices about characters and
ethics; no one was without reasons for his behaviour, no issue
open-and-shut. Reflecting this refusal to condone easy
judgements, his camera style was mostly subtle and discreet,
balancing conflicting characters within the frame, observing
gestures and glances without emphasis." -
Geoff
Andrew (The Director's Vision, 1999)
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"A filmmaker of epic tales and low-key suspense dramas which
examine relationships between people while they solve crimes,
Preminger is at his apex with middle-budget psychological
stories fraught with complex violence." -
William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978) |
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"I
do not welcome advice from actors, they are here to act." -
Otto Preminger |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director
that we haven't seen include Danger - Love at Work (1937), Margin for
Error (1943), Centennial Summer (1946), Hurry
Sundown (1967), Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970), and Rosebud
(1975). |
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