For June we are looking at the films of Otto Preminger, who enjoyed a career in Hollywood spanning five decades. Across nearly 40 feature films, Preminger displayed virtuosity in many genres (film noir, historical epics, courtroom dramas, musicals) and came to be known for pushing boundaries of what was deemed acceptable at a time when Hollywood needed it the most. Whether casting Frank Sinatra as a drug addict (The Man with the Golden Arm, 1955), giving a screen credit to blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (Exodus, 1960), or acting under Billy Wilder for Stalag 17 (1953) or as Mr. Freeze in the 60s TV show Batman with Adam West, Preminger could be relied upon to be up to something interesting.

Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944, USA, 88 minutes)

Selected by the American Film Institute as the fourth-best American mystery film ever made, NYPD detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews, in his first of many collaborations with Preminger) investigates the murder of the titular Laura (the luminous Gene Tierney). Over the course of his inquiry, Detective McPherson develops an unhealthy obsession, to the point of unrequited love, with the beautiful Laura, inspired in part by a mesmerizing large-scale portrait of her that looms in the background. The film features St. Louis native son Vincent Price in an equally elegant and manipulative performance as Shelby Carpenter, Laura’s fiancée.

Laura is available to rent digitally on most platforms for $3-4.

With a free post-film discussion on June 3 at 7:00 p.m. from T-L Reid, experimental photographer, researcher, teacher, and current Japanophile.

Register for this Zoom event here.