The Preminger Binge

The other night I wrote the following about a film I had then just seen:

It's just one of those movies - the look, the feel, the setting... The decadent bourgeoisie, the riviera. Jean Seberg apparently took a beating upon the release, but I think she's fine and lovely, especially in the scenes with David Niven hinting of an incestuous relationship between the two. I could do without some of the prolonged dance/party sequences, and it dips considerably right before the powerful finale, but that's OK. Some find the material trashy and soap-operatic - maybe, but since I recently watched both Written on the Wind and Bigger Than Life, in comparison it didn't register as such. While not a revelation, I think the film delivers the message of the sometimes futile and pointless existence of these characters with accuracy and finesse.

What could I possibly have been talking about?

Bonjour tristesse (1958, pro) is one of many films directed by Otto Preminger I've seen lately. Consciously or not, it seems I've dug through a whole bunch of them in recent months - most notably his three post-Laura (1944, PRO) noirs he made under contract for Fox - Fallen Angel (1945, pro), Whirlpool (1949, pro), and Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950, PRO). Laura is the most famous one of these four, and justly so, but the others are not bad at all. Where the Sidewalk Ends in particular is a great film, in which we agonizingly follow the inevitable downfall of a troubled cop who accidentally kills a suspect and desperately tries to cover his tracks. It's a tense 90 minutes, filled with familiar finality and propelled by a tight script, which makes room for a typical noir voice-over that seethes with regret. It is also impeccably acted - Dana Andrews plays the lead, just like in Laura and Fallen Angel.

Whirlpool is by far the craziest of the bunch. Gene Tierney plays a wealthy psycho-analyst's wife with a dark secret - she's a cleptomaniac! When she gets caught for shoplifting in an upperscale department store, self-proclaimed therapist José Ferrer steps in from nowhere and saves her from embarrassment, promising the store management that he will treat Tierney's condition - with hypnosis. Tierney agrees, lest her husband finds out about her problem, and before you know it, Ferrer sets her up for murder. The film features an over-the-top, ridiculous climax - imagine a complex whodunnit solved with psychology exploitation tactics, and you get the general idea.

Off-the-cuff favourite Premingers:

1. Laura (1944)
2. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
3. Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
4. Bonjour tristesse (1958)
5. Fallen Angel (1945)
6. Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
7. Whirlpool (1949)
8. Advise & Consent (1962)
9. Skidoo (1968)

Skidoo is almost impossible to rank, at least in the same breath as the others. It really has to be seen to be believed.