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

by Chris Fujiwara

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 Hollywod 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.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Biography

496 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2008

Reviews

[Matthew W · Rating 2 out of 5]

While painfully pedantically written to an almost otherworldly degree, this book is a fairly comprehensive overview of Otto Preminger's oeuvre. Aside from the banality of it all, Fujiwara is clearly a Premingerian of sorts and is not very critical of his criticism-worthy subject. In short, avoid this book unless you HAVE TO study Preminger.

[Rory · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to stick with this biography/exhaustive (in the other sense of the word, too) film-by-film analysis of one of my favorite directors, in order to understand how he became what he became as a giant in classical film, and also to read about Advise & Consent, which may well be my favorite of his.

But it's not worth it. Chris Fujiwara writes as if this book will be his ticket to ivory-tower academia, craving a professorial perch at some university or, if he can't get there, a lower college with a great emphasis on film. The format of his writing is so predictable, with continuing biographical information and production history first in each chapter, followed by his analysis of every film, which is only interesting in some of the artistic connections he makes between characters in Preminger's movies, to highlight what interested Preminger during his career (such as silent witnesses, and functionaries such as the one at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee hearing in Advise & Consent, who are part of the action, but have absolutely no bearing on it) but it becomes increasingly hard to get through, to the point where I lost my patience and just flipped to Advise & Consent, even though I'll lose much knowledge about the rest of Preminger's career that way. I'll stick to watching his movies and seeking out more interesting approaches to writing about his life and his career, if indeed they might still be found, hopefully as detailed as Fujiwara has achieved here, which is his rare saving grace.

[Malcolm Frawley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Otto Preminger was a prolific film-maker, from the mid-1930s right through to the late 1970s. Strangely, many of his films were failures at the box office but he somehow managed to continue making them. The exploration of each of his productions contained within this book is thorough & illuminating but I was disappointed that it didn't really fulfill its stated subject - the LIFE & work. While anyone involved in a creative industry could argue that his or her work is his or her life I wanted to learn more about the man & I believe there was a lot more that could have been told. That said, film buffs will most likely find this a worthwhile read. It examines, in great detail, how films were made during the middle of last century & shines a light on Preminger's notorious behaviour on sets & locations across the world.

[Vincent Mollica]

❤️

[Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is an interesting look at Otto Preminger and his films, the critical analysis of the films are well defined, however the book becomes a little one note and stale in its presentation before the end. It keeps rigidly to the format of presenting the run up to the film, with some personal information about Preminger, followed by descriptions of the shoot, usually describing Preminger shouting at his actors a lot, then followed by the author's critical analysis of the film in question. And it repeats this formula for all of Preminger's work, which, as stated, dulls the impact of the book before you get to the really great films in Preminger's filmography - Advise & Consent, Anatomy of a Murder.