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Otto Preminger Cinema's Consummate Showman | |
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A cursory look at Otto Preminger's reviews seems to suggest a rather interesting story. Clippings about some of his best-known films offer up such toothsome titbits as: "repetitious and trashy" (Forever Amber); "hardly more stimulating than a cup of hot cocoa" (Whirlpool); "turgid psychological claptrap" (Angel Face); "massive, overlong and genuinely inconclusive" (Exodus); "unrelievedly grim" (Man with the Golden Arm); "a sometimes ponderous failure" (Porgy and Bess); "an ambitious, vulgar bore" (The Cardinal); or "aside from the scenic wonders of the mountains and Miss Monroe, the movie is something of a stinker" (River of No Return). |
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But Preminger's failures were often more notable than other people's successes. Laura was originally written off by one noted critic as "a mystery both baffling and boring", but it was the monster hit that launched his career. And Saint Joan, gleefully reviled as "the greatest box-office flop of all time", might well be his best-remembered film. Darryl Zanuck, head of 20th
Century Fox, who gave Preminger his first break yet tried later to blackball
him from the industry, said: "[He's] a very talented director, but he
makes either a great or a crazy picture. Never in between." But even
if his films didn't always click, the publicity he generated around
them never failed to entertain audiences. |
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"Many times I have been described as a controversial filmmaker," Preminger observed. "On the other hand, controversy is not bad. People argue only about subjects or people who are interesting." And interesting he certainly was. Whether throwing fits on the set, setting fire to Jean Seberg, taking acid for research purposes or suing TV networks for interrupting his films with adverts, he was always news. Panty establishment Preminger was a consummate showman, always on the lookout to cash in on this bestseller or that hot issue, yet always out to challenge both himself and his audiences. That cinema can now deal openly with issues of drug addiction, abortion, rape, racial conflict and homosexuality, is due in no small part to his desire to tackle such subjects - and, moreover, his efforts to defend his films against critics, censors and condemnation by the Legion of Decency. If we are now allowed to hear words such as "virgin", "contraceptive" and, yes, even "panties" in the movies, we certainly have him to thank. |
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As a result, his CV includes almost every genre: war film (In Harm's Way), western (River of No Return), musical (Centennial Summer), opera (Carmen Jones), film noir (Fallen Angel), sophisticated comedy (Royal Scandal), silly comedy (Danger - Love at Work), sex comedy (The Moon is Blue) and sexual satire (Such Good Friends). He's done political drama (Advise and Consent), courtroom drama (Anatomy of a Murder), historical drama (Exodus), historical melodrama (Forever Amber), hysterical melodrama (Hurry Sundown), psychodrama (Bunny Lake is Missing), piquant French perversity (Bonjour tristesse), religious sagas (The Cardinal) and youth-oriented exploitation for the geriatric set (Skidoo). If this range made his style hard to pin down, Preminger himself permeated his films from the bottom up, from beginning to end &emdash; and often after. Controlled or bombastic, lightweight or daring, hit or miss, each film was fixed in the public conscious-ness as "an Otto Preminger production". |
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No Hitchcock A revealing insight into his character comes from a joke once played on him by some friends. One night at a restaurant, they arranged with the staff to give him the red-carpet treatment, yet always call him "Mr Hitchcock". As soon as he entered, it was: "How do you do, Mr Hitchcock?" "What can I get you Mr Hitchcock?" By the end of the evening he was pounding the table and screaming: "I am Otto Preminger!" I think that about sums the man up. Andrew Horn |
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