Otto Preminger (1905-1986) was a 3 time Oscar®-nominated director. Originally from Austria-Hungary, Preminger came to the United States and found fame first in theater and then in movies. He would end up directing over 35 movies in a career that lasted 5 decades. Preminger also appeared in front of the cameras…most notably in 1953’s Stalag 17. His IMDb page shows 58 directing and acting credits from 1931 to 1986. This page ranks 38 Otto Preminger movies from Best to Worst in six different sortable columns of information. Television shows, some of his early British movies and his movies not released in North America theaters are not included in the rankings.
Otto Preminger Movies Ranked By Combination of Box Office, Reviews and Awards (UMR Score) *Classic UMR Table (the one with all the stats is the second table)
Otto Preminger Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table
The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.
- Sort Otto Preminger movies by co-stars of his movies.
- Sort Otto Preminger movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
- Sort Otto Preminger movies by yearly domestic box office rank
- Sort Otto Preminger movies how they were received by critics and audiences. 60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
- Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each Otto Preminger movie received and how many Oscar® wins each Otto Preminger movie won.
- Sort Otto Preminger movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score. UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.
- Use the search and sort button to make this page very interactive.
saw 8, but a great 8.10s and favorites: in harms way, anatomy of a murder, laura. a rare 8 and favorite: the man with the golden arm. what to do with stalag 17 a billy wilder directed 10 with a cameo by otto. 9s : daisy Kenyon, exodus.
Hey bob cox….thanks for the Otto feedback. I have see 11 of these movies…so I barely top your tally. Anatomy of a Murder is one of the top rated movies in our database that has always surprised me….but it has it all statistically….box office, reviews and Oscar love…..but I was never really too impressed with the movie. Laura is an all-time classic for sure. I would say he has more than a cameo in Stalag 17….he is the enemy….or at least the “known” enemy. Good feedback as always.
I have seen 17 Otto Preminger movies including 6 of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20.
The HIGHEST ranked movie I have seen is Anatomy of a Murder.
The highest ranked film I have NOT seen is The Pied Piper.
The LOWEST ranked film I have seen is Saint Joan.
Favourite Otto Preminger Movies:
Laura
Stalag 17
River of No Return
Carmen Jones
Fallen Angel
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Porgy and Bess
Daisy Kenyon
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
Bunny Lake is Missing
Other Otto Preminger Movies I Have Seen:
Anatomy of a Murder
The Man with the Golden Arm
The Moon is Blue
In Harm’s Way
Angel Face
Bonjour Tristesse
Saint Joan
By the way – you have The Human Factor starring John Gielgud as The “Hunan” Factor
Hey Flora
1. Thanks for the visit, the comment and the tally count.
2. Current tally counts…Flora 17, me 11 and bob cox 8.
3. I have not seen The Pied Piper either….it was one of his acting roles only….he of course played an evil German officer.
4. Of your favorites I have Laura, Stalog 17, River of No Return, Carmen Jones (just saw this this weekend), Daisy Kenyon and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.
5. I am right there with you on Anatomy of a Murder….statistically it is one of the best movies in our database….but I was “it’s ok” on that movie.
6. So Saint Joan with Widmark did not crack your favorites list…not thinking that happens too often.
7. Thanks for the headsup on the The Human Factor…I will fix that error.
Good stuff.
BRUCE
I meant to say to you that your Laura miniature impressed me so much because it illustrated that historically some of the great classic scenes in big movies that have passed into cinema folklore were often shot in the corner of a relatively small room by just a small cluster of people with a camera or two – a bit like Blair Witch but [on most occasions] without the horror.
Pity you’ve never seen Where the Sidewalk Ends as you’ve given it a high 82% rating, and in fact made it Otto’s 4th best reviewed film, which is saying something in HIS case. Also it’s one of Flora’s faves which mean I’m in good company and for once don’t have to defend my own preference!
Hey Steve, that problem has been fixed. Bruce is driving.
Hi DoC 2, I can see it now, thanks. Busy Bruce is lucky to have such clever children. 🙂
STEVE
What on earth are you and D o C 2 talking about? I was able to work off those tables from early this morning. Am I missing something here?
Hey Bob….an update happened after you saw the page this morning….and it knocked out the tables….which are a pretty big part of the website…..bad on me for not checking the tables after the update. This has happened a few times when that widget has gotten an update….but I was so concerned about getting to work on time….that I forgot to check. But…sounds like you were able to avoid the entire issue.
HI STEVE
Please see my post to you at 1.26 pm yesterday. Were you able to work out what the problem was and how it doesn’t seem to affect me – or did it?
Hi Bob, I wasn’t sure what happened yesterday but Bruce explains everything in his reply just above yours 12.24am. Everythings fine now, it must have happened just after you posted your first Preminger post and was restored when you looked in again. I was busy after that and had to wait till this morning to post my comment.
Hey Steve…I agree 100%…I am indeed very lucky to have these clever children.
Thank you Sam….I appreciate our help. DoC2 saves the day.
Hi Bruce, your chart table is missing from your new Otto Preminger page and other movie pages too. Could it just be me? I don’t have an adblocker switched on.
Hey Steve….that widget had an update this morning…..and I did not realize that the update had de-activated every single table on the website….so for about 2 hours those tables could not be seen by anybody…..but Sam was able to fix the issue via a phone call….impressive tech help from a 12 year old…lol.
yea Sam. yea 12 year olds. yea cogersons.
HI BRUCE If frequency of selection is anything to go by Dana Andrews was maybe Otto’s favourite male actor because in you chart Dana was in 5 Preminger pictures – Laura, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Fallen Angel, Daisy Kenyon, and In Harm’s Way.
You don’t give Dana credit for the last two [what’s Joel got against HIM? In a lecture that Dana gave to university students in the mid-fifties about the Hollywood star system he indicated that he was one of the lesser paid among the prominent stars of his era]. Among the actresses that Otto seemed to prefer are Tierney and Darnell.
Dana’s not getting credit for In Harm’s Way is OK because when the Duke’s around few should get much recognition but in Daisy Kenyon Dana is billed as the male lead above Hank and is second billed to just my Joan – but then everybody was in those days.
Otto has 19 100 million dollar barrier crashers in your chart. The last of those was The Duke’s IN Harm’s Way [April 65]. After that Otto directed just seven more films which you credit with an adjusted domestic gross overall of a mere $169.5 million [average a piddling $$24.2 million]. He also contributed a voice only performance in the 1977’s animated The Hobbit.
The one fly in the ointment is Bunny Lake is Missing [ Oct 1965] as you give no credit for that to the top billed star, the great Sir Larry. And you do that in the midst of the Great Brits season! – will Steve ever forgive you? Some fans have interpreted 1975’s Rosebud as a nod to Welles but I choose to think of it as homage to Brando.
Overall though this new page is an excellent statistical summary of the career of one of Hollywood’s great “thinking” directors so “Voted Up” I liked your miniature still of behind the camera in Laura – truly historical. For the record my own 6 fave Preminger pictures are as follows in no special order – Anatomy of a Murder/River of No Return/Laura/Stalag 17/Angel Face/ Where the Sidewalk ends.
Hey Bob
1. I agree….Dana Andrews was one of his favorite stars….I imagine the success of Laura helped get Andrews more Otto roles.
2. As for why Andrews is not listed as one of the co-stars on Daisy Kenyon and In Harm’s Way?…..well….there is room for two UMR co-stars….and Dana lost out to Henry Fonda and Joan Crawford in one movie and John Wayne and Kirk Douglas on the other. The UMR billing order can be known to jump all over the place.
3. Yep…after In Harm’s Way things quickly went downhill for Otto….his last movies were failures all across the board…and on the UMR rankings….and most are sitting in the Bottom 10 of his movies.
4. Not sure what happened to Sir Larry on Bunny Lake….but he is now listed as the star of that one.
5. I have seen 4 of your favorites….I have not seen Angel Face or Where The Sidewalk Ends.
6. I like your description of him as one of Hollywood’s great “thinking” directors.
7. I did not include his voice role in The Hobbit…but might in the future.
8. FYI…Otto comes off great in Bryan Cranston’s Trumbo……he and Kirk Douglas are some of the ones willing to brave the “blackball” Trumbo was experiencing.
Good feedback as always.
HI BRUCE
Thanks for your responses to my various recent posts and for the additional information and opinions you have provided.
Interesting point about Otto and Trumbo – I had forgotten about Otto’s stance against the blacklisting.
Chuck Heston in an interview once opined that the made-for-TV movies of today [such as the Christmas ones] are really the old B movies of yesteryear that usually appeared as double bills.
I’m watching at the moment “The Secret Life of Mrs Claus”. Don’t be getting excited for there is nothing juicy in it as it is about a woman who does Santa at Christmas but when not dressed up as Mrs Kris Kringle is a businesswoman [in fact a whiz kid like you and Joel in your own respective fields.]
I appreciate your fixing Bunny Loy is Missing as I thought that the error [though only slight as is normal in your work] was one of the more significant ones in that admirers of both the great movie makers should be aware that Larry and Otto did work with each other.
Also, at least while Steve’s Great Brits season is running its course we must show the Brits our utmost respect and give them their place at all times! I’m off now to examine Steve’s Sir Michael Redgrave video. Great fun exchanging thoughts with you as always.