I've seen about half of Preminger's films, and he's hit-or-miss with me, but at his best, as in Laura, he establishes atmosphere and mood through staging, and pace and tone through performance as reflecting his theatrical roots, employing the camera or editing to heighten or sharpen focus upon these elements in only the most sparing manners.
Preminger was a very Preminger's adaptable director, and his adaptability allowed him to be equally at home with the brittle elegance of Laura, the lush romanticism of Daisy Kenyon, the gritty brutality of Where the Sidewalk Ends, the doom-laden perversity of Angel Face, the sordid desperation of The Man with the Golden Arm, the epic sweep of River of No Return or Exodus or the candid cynicism of Anatomy of a Murder and Advise and Consent.