TSPDT - Otto Preminger

Otto Preminger

TOP 100

Key Noir Filmmaker

The Far Side of Paradise

►501 Movie Directors: A Comprehensive Guide to the Greatest Filmmakers

See Also

Henry King

Fritz Lang

Sidney Lumet

David Miller

Lewis Milestone

Vincente Minnelli

Franklin J. Schaffner

King Vidor

Billy Wilder

Fred Zinnemann

Director / Producer

1906 - 1986

Born December 5, Vienna, Austria

Key Production Country: USA

Key Genres: Drama, Film Noir, Romance, Melodrama, Historical Film, Psychological Thriller, Romantic Drama, Mystery

Key Collaborators: Louis Loeffler (Editor), Lyle Wheeler (Production Designer), Sam Leavitt (Cinematographer), Dana Andrews (Leading Player), Joseph LaShelle (Cinematographer), David Raksin (Composer), Gene Tierney (Leading Player), Leon Shamroy (Cinematographer), Charles Bickford (Leading Player), Wendell Mayes (Screenwriter)

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)

Recommended: Forever Amber (1947)

Worth a Look: The Fan (1949), 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), Exodus (1960), Advise and Consent (1962), The Cardinal (1963), Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965), In Harm's Way (1965)

Links: [ IMDB ] [ 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 ] [ Senses of Cinema Article (2006) ] [ New York Sun Article (2006) ] [ Undercurrent Article (2006) ] [ New Yorker Article (2007) ] [ nextbook Article (2008) ]

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 ]

DVD's: [ Amazon ]

1,000 Greatest Films: Laura (1944), Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

250 Quintessential Noir Films: Laura (1944), Fallen Angel (1945), Whirlpool (1949), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950), Angel Face (1953)


	"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)

	"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)

	"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)

	"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)