Otto Preminger was one of the greatest story-telling film directors of his generation. In that respect, he was similar to Alfred Hitchcock in being primarily concerned with presenting a narrative in the most cinematic and entertaining manner possible. To Preminger (and Hitchcock), the acting was always subordinate to the story. That helps to explain why Preminger's camerawork (with its many long takes) was generally fluid and inobtrusive, and why his actors usually played their roles in a similar low key style. In a mammoth all star epic like In Harm's Way (IHW), only the leading actors registered as particularly noticeable performers, while the numerous secondary (but nonetheless famous) thespians often resembled facade-like personalities walking through their parts. To some, this proved to be a negative distraction.
Preminger was not a documentary filmmaker, nor did he intend IHW to be the nautical equivalent of Darryl F. Zanuck's docudrama The Longest Day (1962). Rather, it is fair to consider IHW as a film somewhat similar to Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity (1953)----a military story with several different fictitious threads set against the backdrop of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. IHW is the more complex tale of the two, but its vast canvas does not generally contain performances that equal those Zinnemann was able to draw from his stellar cast. Still----IHW is a good old fashioned movie and an enjoyable way to spend almost three hours of your time.
In The Cinema of Otto Preminger by Gerald Pratley (Castle Books, 1971), Preminger included in his own annotation to IHW an interesting anecdote that is worth sharing with a wider audience. There is a scene between the John Wayne and Paula Prentiss characters where Wayne informs her that her husband was reported as missing in action. It is Prentiss's last appearance in the film, and she wanted so hard for it to be her best work. During each take, Prentiss unconsciously kicked herself in the ankle as she was caught up in the moment. When the scene ended, she discovered that she could no longer walk and had to be taken to the hospital. Her kicking resulted in a fractured ankle. Or as Preminger himself explained, "...she was concentrating so hard on the scene that she didn't realise it." Think about that scene the next time you see IHW!
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