Anatomy of a Murder

Special limited edition, contains 16-page booklet with vintage memorabilia The 1959 courtroom crime drama Anatomy of a Murder was directed by Otto Preminger and adapted by Wendell Mayes from the best- selling homonymous novel written by Michigan Supreme Court Justice John D Voelker under the pen name Robert Traver. The flm stars James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Eve Arden, and George C. Scott. Anatomy of a Murder was one of the frst mainstream Hollywood flms to address sex and rape in graphic terms. It includes one of Saul Bass's most celebrated title sequences, and a musical score, presented here in its entirety, composed and performed by Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Ellington himself plays a character in the flm, called Pie-Eye. In 2012, the flm was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being of "culturally, historically, and aesthetically signifcant". Duke Ellington's score won three Grammy Awards in 1959, for Best erformance by a Dance Band, Best Musical Composition, and Best Sound Track Album. A separate version of the flm's title track, recorded by Ellington in the studio years later, has been added to this special edition as a bonus track.