Anatomy of a Murder
Directed by Otto Preminger
- crime
- drama
- mystery
The story
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
What it’s like
Crisp black-and-white widescreen with deep, shadowy courtroom interiors and the blunt flatness of small-town Michigan: wood-panelled rooms, dim hallways, gravel roads under overcast skies. Otto Preminger keeps the camera patient and mostly locked off, letting long courtroom sequences unfold in static medium shots, with the occasional slow push toward a witness at the moment of revelation. Duke Ellington's jazz score drifts through the film in lazy, smoky phrases that contrast with the grim subject matter, and the dialogue is dense, witty and combative. The mood is dry, sardonic and unhurried, with tension building through talk rather than action. Violence happens off-screen and is discussed in clinical detail; the sexual material is handled obliquely, with innuendo rather than images, and the film is more unsettling than graphic. Best for patient viewers who enjoy courtroom drama, sharp wordplay and moral ambiguity, or for a late-night watch when a slow, adult, talky thriller is the goal.
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