Anatomy Of A Murder (English & Foreign language, DVD)

It's hard to realise that this classic courtroom drama, produced and directed by the great Otto Preminger, was released more that fifty years ago (in 1959, to be exact!). It's adult theme caused star James Stewart's staunchly Presbyterian father to condemn the movie as "a dirty picture" at the time...which it certainly isn't.

Winning several international awards and nominated for many more; James Stewart heads up the cast as Paul Biegler - a former district attorney, who takes on the unenviable task of defending loutish US army lieutenant Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara) in a first-degree murder trial. Manion's flirtatious wife is played by beautiful Lee Remick, the impact of whose intense eyes are in no way minimized on black-and-white film. (Lana Turner was given first bite of the cherry here, but turned the part down for a whole variety of reasons; maybe some of them true. But can you imagine the plausibility of Lana Turner's appearing in some of her typical wardrobe's clothing - as the wife of a mere army lieutenant? I think not).

A very young and surprisingly slender George C Scott appears here in one of his very first pictures, as Claude Dancer - former army general and now up-and-coming high-powered big-city state prosecuting attorney. We also get a Grade A performance from Arthur O'Connell, who appears as Biegler's alcoholic colleague Parnell McCarthy.

Of further note is that this is one of the first pictures to feature a jazz musical score - in this case, written and performed by the legendary Duke Ellington himself - who also appears in the film as roadhouse owner, "Pie Eye".

A UCLA law professor, Michael Asimov, calls the picture "probably the finest pure trial movie ever made." Through TV, we've become so used to "twists" at the end of this sort of picture that its quite refreshing to find that "they still make 'em like they used to".

A classic of its kind!

A riveting courtroom drama of rape and premeditated murder is brought to life with an all-star cast in the suspenseful and highly-acclaimed Anatomy Of A Murder.

Nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture), the film pits a humble small-town lawyer against a hardheaded, big-city prosecutor. Emotions flare as a jealous army lieutenant pleads innocent to murdering the rapist of his seductive beautiful wife.

Produced and directed by the renowned Otto Preminger, the film features a brilliant score by Duke Ellington. Packed with drama, passion, and intrigue, Anatomy Of A Murder is a cinematic masterpiece that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

In black & white.

General

Studio:	Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	August 2001
Movie released:	1959
Actors:	James Stewart • Lee Remick • George C Scott
Dimensions:	192 x 137 x 15mm (L x W x T)
Format:
Running time:	2 hours, 34 minutes
Region encoding:	Region 2. This DVD will play in all South African DVD players.
Audio format:	Dolby Digital Mono
Video format:	Widescreen 1.85:1
Languages:	English • French • German • Italian • Spanish
Subtitles:	English • French • German • Polish • Czech • Hungarian • Hindi • Turkish • Danish • Arabic • Bulgarian • Swedish • Finnish • Icelandic • Dutch • Norwegian • Portuguese • Greek • Hebrew • Spanish • Italian
Age restriction:	15 PG
Categories:	DVD > Classics DVD > Crime DVD > Drama DVD > Mystery DVD > Feature Film
LSN:	X9U-4DV-YLE-3
Barcode:	5035822007130

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• Interactive Menus
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• Bonus Footage
• Trailers
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Review This Product

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 | Review by: Dirk Joubert

Year originally released: 1959 Cast: James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O’Connell, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott Producer & Director: Otto Preminger Other credits: Music by Duke Ellington, Screenplay by Wendell Mayes Running Time: 2hrs:34mins. Awards and nominations: Academy Award Nominations for; Best Picture, Best Actor (James Stewart), Best Supporting Actor (both Arthur O’Connell & George C. Scott), Best Adapted Screenplay (Wendell Mayes), Best Black & White Photography (Sam Leavitt), Best Film Editing (Louis R. Loeffler). The movie failed to win a single Oscar. It was the year that Ben Hur swept the boards and took a record number of nominations and a record number of Oscars! Trivia: • Duke Ellington wrote the stunning jazz score for the movie and has a cameo role as Pie-Eye. • The part of the judge was offered to Spencer Tracy and Burl Ives, but went to Joseph N. Welch who was a lawyer in real life. He represented the U.S. Army in the televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954 and he eventually went on to become a real Judge. • James Stewart's father was so offended by the film, which he deemed "a dirty picture", that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it. • Upon its original release, the film was banned in Chicago, Illinois. An Army Officer (Ben Gazzara) is on trial for the murder of a man who he believed raped his duplicitous, sluttish wife (Lee Remick). Small-town Attorney, Paul Biegler (James Stewart) — who would rather spend his time fishing than practicing Law — is asked to be the Defending Attorney. With the assistance of his wisecracking and cynical secretary (Eve Arden), and an alcoholic friend (Arthur O’Connell), they run circles around the Prosecutors, led by a big-city Attorney (George C. Scott) brought in especially for this trial. “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!” said Rhett Butler to Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, and half the world fainted at hearing such a shocking word used in a movie! These days the “F” word — as my Grandmother used to call it — is used in almost every movie we see. But between “damn” and the “F” word is a whole movie history, with a tiny chunk of it being owed to Anatomy of a Murder! Otto Preminger was never one to shrink from controversy or pushing the envelope by challenging the legitimacy of the artistically restrictive Production Code or Hayes Code, as it was also known. He had already upset them by releasing his 1953 movie, The Moon is Blue without their certificate of approval and without removing the offending words “virgin”, “seduce” and “mistress”. In Anatomy of a Murder he took it one step further and allowed his cast to use, “rape”, “slut”, “bitch”, “panties” and (most shockingly of all) “sperm”. This all seems rather quaint by today’s standards but in 1959, it was earth-shattering stuff! So while the prudes and right-wing conservatives screamed for Preminger’s head, the movie enjoyed considerable free publicity, virtually ensuring its financial success! The movie is based on the best-selling novel written in his spare-time by John D. Voelker, a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, under the pen name of Robert Travers. While he maintained that the story was pure fiction, it is speculated that it was based on a real-life slaying at the Lumberjack Tavern in Michigan. The part of the hero, Paul Biegler, played by James Stewart in his usual “aw shucks” self-depreciating style of acting, is supposedly based on the author himself. By the way, there is nothing wrong with the “aw shucks” style of acting. It’s charming! And James Stewart built a whole career interpreting almost every part that way. He is so likeable in the role of Biegler, that you want to cheer every time he makes the oily prosecutor — so convincingly portrayed by George C. Scott — squirm! The part of the raped and assaulted wife played by Lee Remick was first offered to Lana Turner, who, it is said, agreed only if she could wear gowns designed by Jean Louis. When Preminger objected that such gowns were not suitable for the role, Turner turned down the part. Oh come on Lana, everyone knows that an Army Lieutenant’s wife can’t afford Jean Louis gowns! Columbia was ready to give in to Turner's demands but Preminger refused and gave the role to Remick, then almost an unknown. Of course, I much prefer the version of the story in which it is alleged that Turner slapped Preminger when he threw one of his famous temper tantrums and he promptly slapped her back! At which point she stormed off the set; never to return. It doesn’t matter which story is the true one, the bottom line is that it gave Lee Remick’s career a huge upwards boost. The movie is still highly watchable and knowing about the “words” controversy at the time of its release only adds to its charm. If you like tense, taunt and well-scripted courtroom dramas, this is a must see! Personal Aside: When this movie was shown in SA for the first time, it was naturally released with an age-restriction so I wasn’t allowed to see it. However, despite the age-restriction our Censor Board saw fit to remove all the “naughty” words. I eventually caught the movie at a festival about 15 years later only to discover, to my absolute horror, that the “naughty” words, which had been removed on release, were still cut from the movie! So, now at long last, thanks to DVD’s, I’m allowed to hear someone say “panties” or “sperm” on screen! I hope it doesn’t corrupt me! After all, at the time the Censors thought it might! The DVD: There are a few note-worthy special features on my DVD. • The original theatrical trailer features Otto Preminger “swearing in” a bemused cast. Very different from today’s movie trailers but it has some charm and giggle-value. • “Anatomy of a Classic” photo montage. Interesting, if you enjoy watching slide shows. It also features Duke Ellington’s wonderful jazz score so it’s worth watching for that alone. • Original advertising posters. If, like me, you find old movie posters fascinating you’ll enjoy flipping through these. Sources: *Halliwell’s Film, Video and DVD Guide 2005 **The Twelfth Virgin Film Guide ***IMDb ****Answers.com

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