Not just the best Mr Freeze opposite Adam West's Batman, but a long-take widescreen master of the noir, "the problem picture," the provocative censor-baiting melodrama. Subject of a just-begun NYC retro:
http://www.filmforum.org/films/preminger.html
Some primers:
http://www.panix.com/~sallitt/blog/2007/12/otto-preminger-film-forum-january-2-17.html
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0801,pinkerton,78751,20.html
My breakdown...
Masterworks: Laura, Bonjour Tristesse
Major works: Anatomy of a Murder, Advise and Consent
Search: Where the Sidewalk Ends, Carmen Jones, The Man with the Golden Arm, Saint Joan
OK: River of No Return, Bunny Lake is Missing
Meh: Angel Face (why some think this is a nifty noir I dunno; good laffs tho)
Destroy w/ extreme prejudice: Skidoo
Unseen but intrigued: Daisy Kenyon (fixing this tonight), Margin for Error, Fallen Angel, Forever Amber, The Fan, Whirlpool, The 13th Letter, Porgy and Bess, Exodus, The Cardinal, In Harm's Way, The Human factor
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
i am extremely under-premingered.
― s1ocki, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:11 (5 years ago) Permalink
Fallen Angel is great, definitely a major work.
Anatomy of a Murder is my favorite. Resaw Advise and Consent a few weeks ago: the first 90 minutes are just wonderful...then the hamhanded homo drama kicks in.
Walter Pidgeon missed his calling...he should have been a majority leader intead of actor.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
'Resaw' now.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
ya... that a new year's resolution or something?
― s1ocki, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:16 (5 years ago) Permalink
Never seen Bonjour Tristesse...just stuck it in my Netflix queue.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:17 (5 years ago) Permalink
good, you won't suffer NY hipster assholes chuckling through the climax like I did at MoMA.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:19 (5 years ago) Permalink
The Pinkerton intro's much better than the Apatow essay.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 January 2008 16:20 (5 years ago) Permalink
In Harm's Way is really good. Great cast.
― C. Grisso/McCain, Thursday, 3 January 2008 18:02 (5 years ago) Permalink
I learned a new word.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 18:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
brummagem.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 19:20 (5 years ago) Permalink
I'm rather under-premingered too. Only seen Saint Joan and Bunny Lake is Missing, both of which were great. I kind of get why you might say the latter is only okay, but I recorded it by accident and got very drawn into the whole thing.
I've always been wary of watching The Man with the Golden Arm as I loved the book and don't want it spoiled, even though EVERYONE says the film is awesome, hm hm. I didn't even realise that Bonjour Tristesse had been filmed - I think that might work better as a film than the book...
― emil.y, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:14 (5 years ago) Permalink
Deborah Kerr is amazing in it, and Jean Seberg is better than she is in Saint Joan.
Olivier is very smart and funny in Bunny Lake, but I find the whole gothic bro-sis psych-horror plot a bit wheezy.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:23 (5 years ago) Permalink
...Golden Arm is mad overrated: less cool than you'd expect from the accurate descriptions of the Preminger style in Pinkerton's essay. Sinatra's terrific, though.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
maybe i should see advise & consent? river of no return could be interesting.
is MoMA noted for audience annoyance? I had to suffer thru commentary and kissyface at Fitzcarraldo.
― gabbneb, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
I think that might work better as a film than the book Ha, I was just thinking the same thing, that the film is better than the book.
Man, I hope I get to see some of these.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
gabbneb, you in particular would eat up Advise & Consent.
kissyface at Fitzcarraldo.
lol - huh?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:33 (5 years ago) Permalink
srsly
― gabbneb, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
I think what you heard was just some loose denture hydroplaning, gabbneb.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:36 (5 years ago) Permalink
must've been the naked injuns.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
this couple was not geriatric
― gabbneb, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:37 (5 years ago) Permalink
MoMA is better known for people clacking their dentures (haha xpost), eating plums and punching each other, but occasional the younger Film Forum Snicker Brigade wanders in.
Yes 'neb, you will be riveted by Advise & Consent (even though it's based on a novel by a conservative -- the villain is a blackmailing peacenik Commie dupe).
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
this def was not the Lincoln Plaza audience
― gabbneb, Thursday, 3 January 2008 20:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
Not just the best Mr Freeze opposite Adam West's Batman If only they had gone ahead with the original plan to have Cesar Romero play Gene Tierney's Latin Lover, Laura would have had yet another Batman villian associated with it.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 4 January 2008 01:41 (5 years ago) Permalink
Or if Dame Judith Anderson had been on Batman instead of Star Trek.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 4 January 2008 01:51 (5 years ago) Permalink
Daisy Kenyon is almost worth all the recent blogger ecstasy, especially for the first 2/3; here's something on it:
http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2008/01/you-jury-joan-crawford-otto-preminger.html
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 4 January 2008 20:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Dana Andrews is a hella good actor.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 4 January 2008 20:33 (5 years ago) Permalink
He's quite the antihero in DK.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 4 January 2008 20:33 (5 years ago) Permalink
I wanna read that Geoffrey O'Brien thing about him (or is it Luc Sante)
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 4 January 2008 20:49 (5 years ago) Permalink
thing? about Dana Andrews?
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 4 January 2008 20:57 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah. It's in OK You Mugs. I think C0L!n said that was the best or only thing worth reading in there.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 4 January 2008 21:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
i've been seeing that book remaindered pretty much since it came out, and every so often i'll look in the contents to see if i recognize any of the contributors' name now. i *never ever do*. subtitling it 'writers on actors' was kind of oxymoronic.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 5 January 2008 14:25 (5 years ago) Permalink
Geoffrey O'Brien, Luc Sante, Manny Farber, John Updike? Never heard of 'em
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 5 January 2008 15:01 (5 years ago) Permalink
Actually I remembered that I had already read that Dana Andrews piece in Castaways On The Image Planet.
are they rly in it? obviously farber and updike i know. heard of sante.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 5 January 2008 15:39 (5 years ago) Permalink
Table Of Contents ILX favorites Frank Kogan and Greil Marcus too.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Saturday, 5 January 2008 16:08 (5 years ago) Permalink
oh klawans too huh.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 5 January 2008 16:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
Fun fact: Godard seeked out Jean Seberg to be in Breathless after seeing Saint Joan (I've only seen Bonjour Tristesse).
Carmen Jones, yes. Amazing it was made when it was.
I really love Bunny Lake is Missing. Although it's harder to watch after the spoilers of a first viewing.
― freewheel, Saturday, 5 January 2008 16:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
Saw Bonjour Tristesse. What an odd little film. Preminger rather slyly doesn't shy away from the sexual tension between sticky-wicket Niven and Seberg. She's awkward when bantering or acting most adolescent, but she and Kerr (who's really superb and looks great in Preminger's extended great) have great chemistry.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:41 (5 years ago) Permalink
I love the MoMA film audience. It's always like 20% Jewish 75+ psychoanalysts.
― Hurting 2, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
has "great" gone viral in Alfred's last line?
Its oddness is inseparable from its greatness. I wonder if Eric remembers it?
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:44 (5 years ago) Permalink
Also when I see things at MoMA someone usually starts talking to me without prompt, which I like.
― Hurting 2, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:45 (5 years ago) Permalink
whoops typo.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:46 (5 years ago) Permalink
Why? It's a beautiful film, but it's also a segregationist document in its own way.
Preminger was bold, but he was also careful and canny. He wouldn't have stepped over any boundaries if he thought there would be real repercussions.
I think he's one of the greatest Hollywood directors mind.
― amateurist, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:47 (5 years ago) Permalink
I've got Where The Sidewalk Ends arriving tomorrow.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 16:48 (5 years ago) Permalink
I wonder if Eric remembers it? Film criticism is the art of pretend forgetfulness.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
I remember the movie, just not writing about it. No way in hell am I gonna read that piece now.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:14 (5 years ago) Permalink
A bunch of the earliest essays I wrote for Slant's 100 are painfully earnest, I bet. The ones on trashy movies are probably a lot better.
― Eric H., Monday, 7 January 2008 17:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
Resaw Advise and Consent a few weeks ago: the first 90 minutes are just wonderful...then the hamhanded homo drama kicks in.
How would you prefer Kennedy-era studio films dealt with homosexuality?
With less handwringing and a better actor than Don Murray. I don't mind the gay bar scene.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 7 January 2008 17:17 (5 years ago) Permalink
Just was leafing through Dark City Dames and for some reason there is a picture of Otto Preminger sitting with Marie Windsor with a caption that says something about the tyrannical director taking her under his wing.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 25 January 2008 20:42 (5 years ago) Permalink
"The tyrannical director proved to be a guardian angel to the young, struggling actress."
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Friday, 25 January 2008 20:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
Never seen any Preminger, but Anatomy of Murder arrives in my mailbox tomorrow.
― jaymc, Friday, 25 January 2008 21:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
(And yes, it was the Denby article that did it.)
― jaymc, Friday, 25 January 2008 21:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
hey, Daisy Kenyon's out, pounce.
http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/dvd_review.asp?ID=1302
I've been skipping around in the Hirsch book, what a trip and a half OP was...
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:26 (5 years ago) Permalink
I almost picked it up at the store last weekend. how's his crit?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
his crit? better than his dish?
It's OK, he doesn't overpraise stuff that hasn't aged all that well (Man w/ Golden Arm). Quotes a lot of actors who say OP gave em virtually no direction.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 14 March 2008 16:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Daisy Kenyon is excellent, excellent. Love how the Preminger renaissance is as much a Dana Andrews rediscovery.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 19 March 2008 22:12 (5 years ago) Permalink
and Andrews didn't want to do DK.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 20 March 2008 17:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
Maybe Crawford's most human performance? I dunno -- she seemed looser and, god, more IRONIC?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 March 2008 18:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
Joan was going thru menopause during the shoot; the temperature on the set was kept at 50 degrees F.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 20 March 2008 19:01 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, I watched the "featurette." Your boy Hirsch does the commentary and hosts the featurette.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 March 2008 19:02 (5 years ago) Permalink
Also: is this the only instance in film of a feeble father-in-law?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 March 2008 19:03 (5 years ago) Permalink
the bio was returned today, I read about half.
yeah, the dad-in-law reallty rolled over for Dana. The child-abuse thing is kind of amazing.
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 20 March 2008 19:06 (5 years ago) Permalink
a still newer bio, by Chris Fujiwara:
http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid61433.aspx
― Dr Morbius, Thursday, 15 May 2008 19:21 (5 years ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, I saw that in the bookstore a month or two ago and meant to post about it.
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 15 May 2008 19:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
Watching Bunny Lake is Missing tonight. Any thoughts?
― Bud Huxtable (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 4 June 2009 21:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
I seriously hope the audiences of 1944 realized that Vincent Price and Clifton Webb are playing insolent fags.
― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 December 2010 22:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
Of course. But you need EVIDENCE. You need eeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvidence!
P.S. Bunny Lake is Missing = masterpiece, one of his many. In some ways, it's the perfect Preminger gateway drug since his observational style doesn't mute the thriller aspects that rise to the surface only in subsequent viewings of Fallen Angel or Angel Face. And what he does with Noel Coward is a moral triumph. We are not worthy.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
Did you dig it?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 6 December 2010 22:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
I don't think Such Good Friends gets mentioned anywhere here. I used to watch it on TV in the '70s, hoping I'd see Dyan...well, never mind about my bilious private life. Saw it for the first time in ages last year, part of a Preminger series at the Cinematheque. It was okay, barely.
― clemenza, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
Well, unsurprisingly, I love the shit out of it. Of his 1970s films, it's second only to his apocalyptic swansong The Human Factor. The ending of Such Good Friends offers one of cinema's great images of calm acceptance and mature focus, particularly felt after such a juicily off-kilter film.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
I did like the ending, and almost mentioned it in my post--couldn't remember specifically how it ended, though.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:33 (2 years ago) Permalink
Just remembered my favourite film joke ever, attributed to some famous director (forget who): "I passed Otto Preminger's house the other day--or should I say, 'a house by Otto Preminger'?"
― clemenza, Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:38 (2 years ago) Permalink
Laura? Yeah! I own it -- one of my favorite films.
― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
No, no, Bunny Lake is Missing
― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 7 December 2010 00:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
saw Otto in the Nilsson documentary, encased in a groovy blue hippie outfit on the set of Playboy After Dark as Harry sang.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 7 December 2010 07:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
I just started the Hirsch biography.
Should I bother with In Harm's Way? Not too stodgy?
― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 4 July 2011 21:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
I bought a remaindered copy of this a few weeks ago:
I read the Advise and Consent chapter while killing time before a movie. Based on that, I'd never make it through the whole book:
"Appropriately, the dialogue of Advise and Consent is filled with performatives. Senators say 'I move,' or 'I yield,' or 'I ask,' or 'I suggest,' or 'I release,' and their saying these things effectuates the things they say."
Making it the complete opposite of American Beauty, where Kevin Spacey says "Pass the asparagus" and everyone ignores him.
― clemenza, Monday, 4 July 2011 21:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
Am reading yet another recently published bio of the guy different from the ones you guys are reading.
― Safe European HOOS (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 5 July 2011 00:12 (1 year ago) Permalink
j/k. But the guy does seem to have even more biographers than Nikola Tesla.
oh, In Harm's Way is a must, if only for what Kirk Douglas's character... does.
anyone rep for The Human Factor? Dave Kehr presiding over a screening in Brooklyn Monday. I remember hearing Otto being interviewed by Julian Schlossberg (onetime studio exec) on his WABC radio show "Movietalk" when OP was doing press for it.
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Friday, 16 September 2011 19:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
ok, I guess it was WMCA or WOR (ABC was still a music station then)
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Friday, 16 September 2011 19:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
Anatomy of a Murder is so good. Jimmy Stewart's performance is the capstone of his fifties work: we see how his aw-shucks manner is an act, turned on and off for deliberate manipulative effect.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 01:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
Criterion forthcoming btw.... supplements v intriguing:
http://www.criterion.com/films/27901-anatomy-of-a-murder
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 15 February 2012 20:06 (1 year ago) Permalink
from G Kenny on above:
"Even in the wrong—-that’s right, wrong—-Academy ratio framing of this 1959 film released on DVD by Sony many years back, this picture maintained a great deal of its fluid multi-leveled visual complexity. The correct 1.85 framing and the boosted detail here (some of which, admittedly, conks out briefly for a shot or two at a time—look for decreased forehead-wrinkle levels in a shot in the first Gazzara/Stewart confab about 19 minutes in, for instance) AMPLIFY that quality, which helps in turn to reveal why it is, in fact, one of the Great Films. The shot of Stewart’s character scoping out the awards and newspaper clippings on the wall of the Thunder Bay Inn here shows Preminger as a definite info-fiend precursor to David Fincher. Haven’t explored extras but don’t need to to award this a personal:— A+ "
― Literal Facepalms (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 18:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
LOVE THIS MOVIE
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 7 March 2012 18:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
Seeing Laura this Sunday in its newly restored versh - can't wait.
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 7 March 2012 21:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
awesome
― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Friday, 11 May 2012 04:39 (1 year ago) Permalink
Bonjour Tristesse is on now or soon at FF, I believe
― The Unbassful Serpent (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 13 May 2012 01:00 (1 year ago) Permalink
^^It's also due to be announced sometime soon on limited edition bluray from Twilight Time.
― Leslie Mann: Boner Machine (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 13 May 2012 06:57 (1 year ago) Permalink
box o' three sleeper/dud '67-71 films:
http://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/review/the-otto-preminger-collection/2478
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 13:10 (6 months ago) Permalink
so Jackie Gleason tripping balls isn't worth a look?
― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:17 (6 months ago) Permalink
yes
doesn't mean it isn't awful
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:38 (6 months ago) Permalink
Need to check out some more stuff by this guy.
Anatomy of a Murder is brilliant – probably the best courtroom drama I’ve ever seen. There’s only one weak acting performance (from the main prosecuting counsel) which sticks out a bit but the rest of them are outstanding. Great score from Duke Ellington too.
Laura is super too. Beautiful theme music drifting through it.
Can't remember much about Bunny Lake is Missing a bit of an oddity as I remember...
Bonjour Tristesse was shown (restored!) at the London Film Festival this year. Didn't like it when I first saw it, find myself liking it more and more as time goes on.
Exodus lasts forever but was ok. The old story about it was that at a pre-release screening, one of the production company’s executives (a jew named Mort Sahl) stood up about 2 and a half hours into the movie and called out “Otto, Let my People Go!” (probably apocryphal)...
River of No Return was good but I’ve forgotten most of it. For years I’ve wanted to see Advise and Consent but have always missed it
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:42 (6 months ago) Permalink
one of the production company’s executives (a jew named Mort Sahl)
uh? Sahl was one of the great innovative post-Catskills standup comics
― saltwater incursion (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:45 (6 months ago) Permalink
(still living btw)
Ah yes, my mistake...
"When Exodus was first released, a funny story circulated concerning comedian Mort Sahl. Supposedly, he stood up in the middle of a premiere screening of the film with Preminger present and shouted, 'Otto, let my people go' in reference to the interminable length of the film. Most critics, but not audiences, tended to agree with Sahl."
― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:53 (6 months ago) Permalink
Bunny Lake will always be classic to me just because of that one turning point involving a doll
― Nhex, Tuesday, 13 November 2012 15:55 (6 months ago) Permalink
Always loved the way that the score runs through the first half of the film, which is lively and jumping as Stewart's record collection, before disappearing completely for the formal courtroom procedural in the second half, only returning in full swing once the film leaves the courtroom at the very end.
― Room 227 (cryptosicko), Tuesday, 13 November 2012 16:07 (6 months ago) Permalink