Otto Preminger- Laura (1944), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

In 1940s and 1950s, apparently the major prerequisite for being a great film director was to be a fat, white, bald guy. Almost everyone today is familiar with Alfred Hitchcock and his portfolio of horror and suspense films which spans multiple decades, but most people are far less familiar with the other great balding white guy- Otto Preminger. Preminger's career also developed over multiple decades; his films were intelligent and unafraid to tackle complex topics where the protaganist and antagonist did not necessarily fall into easy "good" and "bad" categories.

Two of Preminger's best early works are highlighted below:

Every great film noir has three basic elements: rain, hard liquor and chain-smoking. Laura has its share of all three as well as an extremely detailed and often-times inconceivable plot which is scattered with moments of campiness. The film has some great one-liners, such as Clifton Webb's character, Waldo Lydecker, saying "I hate pens" and Detective McPherson telling the maid: "Well spit if it makes you feel better". Despite Preminger's reputation for being obstinant and rumors of tension between the actors on-set, there is a sense of joy with which Preminger's casts take on their roles. Many of his actors and actresses received their highest critical acclaim while under his direction.

The direction and cinematography are just simply unrivaled by today's films. Laura starts and ends with the idealized painting of Laura played by Gene Tierney and serves as the primary symbol of the idealized love that the three main characters in the film have for Laura. The painting probably plays a more important role than the character herself.

Sadly, there were some mirror images of the characters and their real lives behind the screen. As an example, at the end of the film Laura explains to the detective how she was guilty for the murder indirectly. In real life, Tierney had a child who was retarded, blind and deaf. She later found out it was because she had been exposed to German measles by a fan who came to see her at one of her appearances. Tierney was reportedly crushed that her fame contributed to the sickness of her daughter.

Where the Sidewalk Ends re-unites Preminger with his leads (Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney) from Laura, made six years earlier. Preminger appears to have enjoyed transforming Andrews hero character, Detective McPherson in Laura, into the Mark Dixon character from Sidewalk; Dixon wants to do the right thing but his tragic flaw is his desire to pursue justice at all costs, with an "ends justify the means" attitude. Watch the cool opening credits of Sidewalk in this link, but don't watch the entire link if you don't wank spoilers).

Preminger takes what could have been a cookie-cutter cop noir format and adds depth to the film by rounding out details of the characters and blurring the traditional lines between "right and wrong" and "good and bad". While Sidewalk is not nearly as intellectually engaging as his masterpiece Advise and Consent, Anatomy of a Murder and even Exodus, its still a heavy-weight in the crime noir genre and one which should be enjoyable to a large audience even today.