1.5/4 · 1950s · Drama · History · Otto Preminger · Review

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

#37 in my ranking of Otto Preminger's films. This is two kinds of films I generally don’t like. The first is the courtroom drama. The second is neener-neenering people in the past for not seeing the future. There’s a fine line between celebrating a visionary from the past and just insulting everyone around him, and… Continue reading The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell

1950s · 3/4 · Drama · Otto Preminger · Review

The Man with the Golden Arm

#7 in my ranking of Otto Preminger's films. This is closer to what I imagined Otto Preminger freed from Fox control would be. Adapting a novel by Nelson Algren about addiction of either morphine or heroin, Preminger makes a straight forward, tense drama about a man self-destructing. It’s the appropriate kind of mix between material… Continue reading The Man with the Golden Arm

1950s · 3.5/4 · Musical · Otto Preminger · Review

Carmen Jones

#3 in my ranking of Otto Preminger's films. Otto Preminger saw Oscar Hammerstein II’s Broadway production of Carmen Jones, his adaptation of the Carmen opera by Bizet, and hated it. Seeing it as heavily simplified and dramatically discordant within itself, he wanted to correct it in film form. Having recently bought out his own contract… Continue reading Carmen Jones