The World and Its Double

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 & 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 Hollywood's 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 Fujiwara's "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.