otto preminger purchased the movie rights to "anatomy of a murder" in april 1958. filming started in march 1959 on location in the upper peninsula; the director was convinced by his scouts to film the entire movie on location, the first time a movie was filmed entirely in that fashion. voekler's home office was used as one of the filming locations, as was the marquette county courthouse. the book used quotations from actual testimony in the original 1952 trial, and the movie did as well, helping to bring an end to the strict censorship of motion pictures under the hayes code. in addition to its on-location filming, duke ellington wrote part of the movie's score in ishpeming. the film was nominated for seven academy awards in 1960, but did not win any. the movie premiered in ishpeming and marquette on june 29, 1959, followed by its world premier in detroit on july 1. the movie was critically acclaimed. bosley crowther, film critic for "the new york times" said, "it is the best courtroom melodrama this old judge has ever seen", and the american bar association rated this as one of the 12 best trial films of all time.