Director Preminger has worked out his canvas with minute thoroughness. The film is two hours and 40 minutes long, but so absorbing is it that it seems short.

The film is lengthy, with an ending that is both enigmatic and ironic, but presented with such finesse and pace that it is guaranteed to hold your interest from start to finish.

At 160 minutes, Anatomy is longer than the subject warrants, but the pace seldom slackens -- thanks to the competence of Director Otto Preminger.

There’s a fresh thrill in seeing the conventions of the courtroom drama trotted out for the first time, and its lingering sense of moral ambiguity is still jarring.