Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King

This is a great book about a complex, fascinating man/filmmaker. As an avid cinema fan, I've always found Otto's films overly long, self important, and way too episodic. I recently saw Preminger's The Cardinal, and I was surprised at how much I loved the film. I've decided to go over Preminger's work again, and that's one of the main reasons I read this book. This book is very well written and researched, and gives you a complex, measured portrayal of a great showman. Whether you like Preminger's work or not, he had a brilliant knack for getting great publicity for his films, and tackling then controversial subjects. He made films like The Moon Is Blue (which had pretty saucy sex talk, especially for 1953), The Man with the Golden Arm (about heroin addiction), Advise and Consent (which had a homosexual plot line in it, which was very bold for its time), and Anatomy of a Murder, which is one of the most riveting, complex courtroom dramas ever made. The book shows how Otto became one of the biggest powerhouses in Hollywood during his heyday, his shooting methods (he shot very lean and came in under budget, something Hollywood loves), his relationships with actors (he got along wonderfully with Patricia Neal and John Wayne, and was constantly at the throat with Faye Dunaway and Dyan Cannon), and his dedication to family and to liberal politics. Otto helped smash the blacklist by hiring Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay for Exodus, and insisted on him using his real name. While some of Otto's work is a bit dated and not as shocking as it used to be, it's still extremely well made and head and shoulders above other "message" films of the era (particularly films like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which is rather painful to watch nowadays). The book has none of the intellectual, film professor talk on what his films mean, and that's always welcome. It's an absolutely fascinating portrait of a very complicated, polarising filmmaker, one whose films still invoke strong reactions from people today.

"The director of the movies The Man with the Golden Arm, Anatomy of a Murder and Carmen Jones was a genius. Hirsch tells all including Preminger's determination to film movies about African Americans with Carmen Jones and gays in Advise and Consent."

Foster Hirsch has done a masterful job putting together a study of the life and times of Otto Preminger--a "rebel with a cause," namely the expansion of individual freedom against forces opposed to it. He was a figure from a time when people were serious about arts and culture, and 'adult entertainment' did not mean xxxx-rated porno. A better producer than director of actors, that is Hirsch's main argument, but Preminger still gets points for being a masterful "Noir" auteur, as well as a decent director of social-issue films of the 50s and 60s. He broke censorship taboos, the blacklist, the color-line, and created an overtly pro-Israel classic in Exodus (though not pro-Israel enough for author Leon Uris), and dealt with the Alger Hiss case in Advise and Consent (also pulling punches, to the dismay of Alan Drury). But he made the type of films that, while familiar in the 1950s and 1960s--think of Stanley Kramer, Sam Spiegel, Elia Kazan, and so on--are all but gone today. Serious, thoughtful films, posing philosophical dilemmas in the middle of melodrama. If Preminger's reach exceeded his grasp, Foster Hirsch makes the case that he deserves credit for trying. There's also material on Preminger's colorful personal life--his illegitimate son by stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, Dorothy Dandridge's abortion (Otto's fault per Hirsch), his temper tantrums (Dexedrine use may have been a factor), and his interesting relationship with his brother Ingo (talent agent and producer of Robert Altman's MASH) and his parents (father was former Attorney-General of Austria-Hungary). His final marriage, to Hope, seems to have worked out OK--his son became a doctor in New Jersey and his daughter a lawyer who manages the Preminger business today. His son by Gypsy Rose Lee was responsible for some of Preminger's more peculiar films, such as Skiddoo and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. He directed Porgy & Bess, which was pulled from distribution, as well as Carmen Jones. Laura is his most enduring hit. But many others have withstood the test of time. Preminger's last film, The Human Factor, was written by Tom Stoppard. Foster Hirsch says it is worth another look--like many other Preminger productions. If you are interested in movie history, America in the 1950s and 1960s, or Viennese refugees and their Kultur, this is the book.

Hirsch's book is an absolutely first-rate biography of a filmmaker that makes fascinating reading whether one is a Preminger fan or not.

This is a well written book. If you like biography and you like Hollywood, especially the golden age, you will enjoy it. You will be especially interested in the discussion of his classic films. Also Preminger was a leader and ground breaker in elimination of censorship of films and the McCarthy era of blacklisting writers.