Editing Otto Preminger (section)

===Challenging taboos and censorship===
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[[File:Otto Preminger-John D. Voelker in Anatomy of a Murder trailer.jpg|thumb|Preminger and author [[John D. Voelker]] in the [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for ''[[Anatomy of a Murder]]'']]
Several of his films in this period dealt with controversial and taboo themes, thereby challenging both the [[Motion Picture Association of America]]'s [[Motion Picture Production Code|Production Code]] of censorship and the [[Hollywood blacklist]]. The Catholic [[Legion of Decency]] condemned the comedy ''[[The Moon Is Blue (film)|The Moon Is Blue]]'' (1953) on the grounds of moral standards. The film was based on a Broadway play which had inspired mass protests for its use of the words "virgin" and "pregnant". Refusing to remove the offending words, Preminger had the film released without the Production Code Seal of Approval. Based on the novel by [[Nelson Algren]], ''[[The Man with the Golden Arm]]'' (1955) was one of the first Hollywood films to deal with heroin addiction.

Later, ''[[Anatomy of a Murder]]'' (1959), with its frank courtroom discussions of rape and sexual intercourse led to the censors objecting to the use of words such as "rape", "sperm", "sexual climax" and "penetration". Preminger made but one concession (substituting "violation" for "penetration") and the picture was released with MPAA approval, marking the beginning of the end of the Production Code. With ''[[Exodus (1960 film)|Exodus]]'' (1960) Preminger struck a first major blow against the Hollywood blacklist by acknowledging banned screenwriter [[Dalton Trumbo]]. The film is an adaptation of the [[Leon Uris]] bestseller about the founding of the state of Israel. Preminger also acted in a few movies including the World War II Luft-Stalag Commandant, Oberst von Scherbach of the German POW camp ''[[Stalag 17]]'' (1953), directed by [[Billy Wilder]].

From the mid-1950s, most of Preminger's films used animated titles designed by [[Saul Bass]], and many had jazz scores. At the [[New York City Opera]], in October 1953, Preminger directed the American premiere (in English translation) of [[Gottfried von Einem]]'s opera ''Der Prozeß'', based on [[Franz Kafka]]'s novel ''[[The Trial]]''. Soprano [[Phyllis Curtin]] headed the cast. Preminger also adapted two operas for the screen during the decade. ''[[Carmen Jones (film)|Carmen Jones]]'' (1954) is a reworking of the [[Georges Bizet|Bizet]]  opera ''[[Carmen]]'' to a wartime African-American setting while ''[[Porgy and Bess]]'' (1959) is based on the [[George Gershwin]] opera. His two films of the early 1960s were ''[[Advise & Consent (film)|Advise & Consent]]'' (1962),  a political drama from the [[Allen Drury]] bestseller with a homosexual subtheme, and ''[[The Cardinal]]'' (1963), a drama set in the Vatican hierarchy for which Preminger received his second Best Director Academy Award nomination.