Otto Preminger
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Otto Ludwig Preminger (December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986) was an Austrian actor and film director. [1] [Apr 2007]
The production code and foreign films [...]
At the forefront of challenges to the code was director Otto Preminger, whose films violated the code repeatedly in the 1950s. His 1953 film The Moon is Blue, about a young woman who tries to play two suitors off against each other by claiming that she plans to keep her virginity until marriage, was the first film to use the words "virgin", "seduce" and "mistress", and it was released without a certificate of approval. He later made The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), which portrayed the prohibited subject of drug abuse, and Anatomy of a Murder (1959) which dealt with rape. Preminger's films were direct assaults on the authority of the Production Code and, since they were successful, hastened its abandonment.
The Moon Is Blue
The Moon Is Blue is a 1953 comedy film by Otto Preminger which tells the story of a young girl who tries to play two playboy suitors off against each other by claiming that she plans to keep her virginity until marriage. It stars William Holden, David Niven, Maggie McNamara, Dawn Addams and Hardy Krüger.
The movie was adapted by F. Hugh Herbert from his play. It was directed by Otto Preminger.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Maggie McNamara), Best Film Editing and Best Music, Song (Herschel Burke Gilbert and Sylvia Fine for "The Moon Is Blue").
The film was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency for its plot in which a young girl makes fun of her parents' concerns for her virtue. It was the first film to use the words "virgin", "seduce" and "mistress" since the enactment of strict Production Code of Hollywood.
The film was filmed in an English language version and a German language version. In the German version (called Die Jungfrau auf dem Dach), the stars are Johanna Matz, Hardy Krüger, Johannes Heesters and Tom Tull. Krüger and Matz have small roles in the English language version, and Holden and McNamara play the same roles in the German version. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Is_Blue [May 2005]
