The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger

Otto Preminger was one of Hollywoods first truly independent producer-directors. He sought to address the major social, political, and historical questions of his time in films designed to appeal to a wide public. Blazing a trail in the examination of controversial issues such as drug addiction (The Man with the Golden Arm) and homosexuality (Advise & Consent) and in the frank, sophisticated treatment of adult material (Anatomy of a Murder), Preminger broke the censorship of the Hollywood Production Code and the blacklist. He also made some of Hollywoods most enduring film noir classics, including Laura and Fallen Angel. More than anyone else, Preminger represented the transition from the Hollywood of the studios to the decentralized, wheeling-and-dealing New Hollywood of today. Chris Fujiwaras “studious, informative, often astutely argued” (Gerald Peary, The Phoenix) biography follows Preminger throughout his varied career, penetrating his carefully constructed public persona and revealing the many layers of his work. Chris Fujiwara is the author of Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall and a film critic for the Boston Phoenix and other publications. He is currently at work on a study of the films of Jerry Lewis.

Otto Preminger was one of Hollywood's first truly independent producer/directors. He sought to address the major social, political, and historical questions of his time in films designed to appeal to a wide public. Blazing a trail in the examination of controversial issues such as drug addiction (The Man with the Golden Arm) and homosexuality (Advise and Consent) and in the frank, sophisticated treatment of adult material (Anatomy of a Murder), Preminger in the process broke the censorship of the Hollywood Production Code and the blacklist. He also made some of Hollywood's most enduring film noir classics, including Laura and Fallen Angel.

An Austrian émigré, Preminger began his Hollywood career in 1936 as a contract director. When the conditions emerged that led to the fall of the studio system, he had the insight to perceive them clearly and the boldness to take advantage of them, turning himself into one of America's most powerful filmmakers. More than anyone else, Preminger represented the transition from the Hollywood of the studios to the decentralized, wheeling and dealing New Hollywood of today. Chris Fujiwara's critical biography—the first in more than thirty years—follows Preminger throughout his varied career, penetrating his carefully constructed public persona and revealing the many layers of his work.

"A studious, informative, often astutely argued new book."—Gerald Perry, The Phoenix

“Lively . . . show[s] . . . intellectual and analytical curiosity about Premingers films, including the ones that dont work for him.”—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cineaste

"One of our most perceptive writers about film."—Bob Stephens, San Francisco Examiner Magazine

“Its clear early on that Fujiwara ‘gets [Preminger] . . . [He] is a serious and valuable critic [and] does an excellent job of directing us back to the movies.”—Robert Horton, Film Comment

“Chris Fujiwara is one of those rare viewers of cinema who combines immense breadth—has he seen everything?, one wonders in awe—with a sharpness and rigor of analytic insight.  In this vein, Fujiwara offers up a compelling biography of Otto Preminger that is at the same time a wonderful close and critical investigation of the films themselves in all their complex detail.  This is a rich, rewarding unique volume that sets the standard in the study of this key director in the history of American cinema.”—Dana Polan, Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University

“Famous for his courting of controversy and his volatile manners on the set, Otto Preminger was also a great and still underestimated American filmmaker. Chris Fujiwara, with a keen eye for cinematic detail and a sure grasp of the historical background, gives Premingers work the serious and subtle analysis it deserves.”—Geoffrey OBrien, author of The Phantom Empire: Movies in the Mind of the Twentieth Century

"Film critic Fujiwara glances at the director's life but gives long, loving attention to every frame of his films. After making his reputation as a stage director in Vienna, Preminger migrated to Hollywood in 1936. Notorious for his perfectionism and incendiary temper, he made movies notable for their adult tone and content, including Laura, Anatomy of a Murder and The Man with the Golden Arm—as well as some howlers like The Cardinal. (His reputation, Fujiwara acknowledges, has fluctuated.) The author . . . sketch[es] Preminger's biography in the opening chapters, zipping through his wives, art collection and affairs, including an extended, steamy one with his Porgy and Bess star, Dorothy Dandridge, and a quickie with Gypsy Rose Lee that produced an heir. He devotes the bulk of the text, however, to the films. Each gets its own chapter, beginning with the production history from screenplay and casting through scouting locations and shooting to post-production; then come accounts of each movie's critical reception and the box-office receipts. But the heart of each chapter is the author's careful analysis of each film . . . An assiduously researched work that examines and appreciates its subject's art and craft rather than his tempestuous temperament."—Kirkus Reviews

"Preminger, maker of classics like Anatomy of a Murder and bombs like the LSD-tinged Jackie Gleason vehicle Skidoo, was the archetype of the tyrannical Hollywood director. A cue-ball—headed bully who alternated icy sarcasm with frothing rages and had the sense of humor of a guillotine, Preminger calmed one jittery thespian by shaking him and screaming Relax! Relax! Relax! into his face. (In acting roles, Preminger was reliably cast as a Nazi.) Fujiwara's respectful but lively bio sticks closely to his subject's groundbreaking if sadistic creative process. Each chapter covers the making of a single movie, starting with Preminger's wrangles with screenwriters, meddling studio chiefs and Hollywood's prim Production Code, whose hold his risqué films helped break. Production starting brought the director's terrorization of cast and crew, which drove actors of both sexes to hysterical tears—and, some admit, fine performances. Fujiwara's auteurist appreciations of Preminger's work tend toward abstract analyses of, say, the encounter and resistance of objects in space, but they arouse the reader's interest in revisiting his films."—Publishers Weekly

“[A] major contribution to what we know about Preminger—substantially surpassing former efforts.”—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cineaste

“Gives Premingers work the serious and subtle analysis it deserves.”—Geoffrey OBrien, author of The Phantom Empire: Movies in the Mind of the Twentieth Century

“Exceptional.”—Christopher Hontos, The Rake

“A rich, rewarding, unique volume that sets the standard in the study of this key director in the history of American cinema.”—Dana Polan, Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University

“Its clear early on that Fujiwara ‘gets [Preminger] . . . [He] is a serious and valuable critic [and] does an excellent job of directing us back to the movies.”—Robert Horton, Film Comment

“[A] major contribution to what we know about Premingersubstantially surpassing former efforts.”Jonathan Rosenbaum, Cineaste

“Gives Premingers work the serious and subtle analysis it deserves.”Geoffrey OBrien, author of The Phantom Empire: Movies in the Mind of the Twentieth Century

“Exceptional.”Christopher Hontos, The Rake

“A rich, rewarding, unique volume that sets the standard in the study of this key director in the history of American cinema.”Dana Polan, Professor of Cinema Studies, New York University

“Its clear early on that Fujiwara ‘gets [Preminger] . . . [He] is a serious and valuable critic [and] does an excellent job of directing us back to the movies.”Robert Horton, Film Comment

Otto Preminger was one of Hollywoods first truly independent producer-directors. He sought to address the major social, political, and historical questions of his time in films designed to appeal to a wide public. Blazing a trail in the examination of controversial issues such as drug addiction (The Man with the Golden Arm) and homosexuality (Advise & Consent) and in the frank, sophisticated treatment of adult material (Anatomy of a Murder), Preminger broke the censorship of the Hollywood Production Code and the blacklist. He also made some of Hollywoods most enduring film noir classics, including Laura and Fallen Angel. More than anyone else, Preminger represented the transition from the Hollywood of the studios to the decentralized, wheeling-and-dealing New Hollywood of today. Chris Fujiwaras “studious, informative, often astutely argued” (Gerald Peary, The Phoenix) biography follows Preminger throughout his varied career, penetrating his carefully constructed public persona and revealing the many layers of his work.

Chris Fujiwaras other books include Jacques Tourneur: The Cinema of Nightfall, Defining Moments in Movies: The Greatest Films, Stars, Scenes, and Events That Made Movie Magic (as general editor), and Jerry Lewis. He has written on film for numerous anthologies, magazines, and newspapers.