LAURA:
1944 - USA - 90 min. -
Feature, B&W, Available in Colorized Version
Director: Otto Preminger
From play: Laura
Produced by 20th Century Fox
/ Otto Preminger Productions
Released by 20th Century Fox
PLOT SYNOPSIS:
This adaptation of Vera
Caspary's suspense novel was begun by director Rouben Mamoulien and
cinematographer Lucien Ballard, but thanks to a complex series of backstage
intrigues and hostilities, the film was ultimately credited to director Otto
Preminger and cameraman Joseph LaShelle (who won an Oscar for his efforts). At
the outset of the film, it is established that the title character, Laura Hunt
(Gene Tierney), has been murdered. Tough New York detective Mark McPherson
(Dana Andrews) investigates the killing, methodically questioning the chief
suspects: Waspish columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), wastrel socialite
Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), and Carpenter's wealthy "patroness"
Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson). The deeper he gets into the case, the more
fascinated he becomes by the enigmatic Laura, literally falling in love with
the girl's painted portrait. As he sits in Laura's apartment, ruminating over
the case and his own obsessions, the door opens, the lights switch on, and in
walks Laura Hunt, very much alive! To tell any more would rob the reader of the
sheer enjoyment of watching this stylish film noir unfold on screen. Everything
clicks in Laura, from the superbly bitchy peformance of Clifton Webb (a veteran
Broadway star who became an overnight movie favorite with this film) to the
haunting musical score by David Raskin. Long available only in the 85-minute TV
version (thanks to a now-obscure haggle over music rights), Laura has since
been restored to its original 88-minute running time. - Hal Erickson
REVIEW:
With its collection of
decadent New Yorkers embroiled in a murder mystery, Otto Preminger's hit Laura
(1944) stands as an early, elegantly crafted film noir. Preminger's low-key
approach to a story of lethal obsession allows the suggestions of sexual
deviance emanating from Clifton Webb's epicene critic Lydecker, Dana Andrews's
cynical yet besotted necrophiliac cop, and the pragmatic Vincent Price-Judith
Anderson couple to permeate the seductively cool atmosphere. David Raksin's
famously bewitching theme invokes titular mysterious beauty Gene Tierney, but
it is questionable if the real woman can measure up to the power of portraiture
and Lydecker's memory. "Proper" love may triumph but it is a
compromised victory. One of the most popular suspense films of the 1940s, Laura
earned Oscar nominations for Best Director, Supporting Actor for Webb,
"Interior" (now Art) Direction, and the sharp screenplay based on the
Vera Caspary novel, winning the prize for Joseph LaShelle's black and white
cinematography. Released the same year as Billy Wilder's caustic noir Double
Indemnity, Laura was another intimation of the wave of cinematic darkness that
would crest post-World War II. - Lucia Bozzola
CAST:
Gene Tierney - Laura Hunt
Dana Andrews - Mark McPherson
Clifton Webb - Waldo Lydecker
Vincent Price - Shelby
Carpenter
Judith Anderson - Ann
Treadwell
Dorothy Adams - Bessie Clary
James Flavin - McAvity
Clyde Fillmore - Bullitt
Ralph Dunn - Fred Callahan
Grant Mitchell - Corey
Kathleen Howard - Louise
Dutch Schlickenmeyer -
Detective
Harry Strang - Detective
Lane Chandler - Detective
Buster Miles - Office Boy
Kay Linaker - Girl
Cyril Ring - Man
Forbes Murray - Man
Jane Nigh - Secretary
Cara Williams - Girl
John Dexter - Jacoby
Nestor Eristoff
Jean Fenwick - Woman
Terry Adams - Man
Kay Connors
Dorothy Christy - Woman
Frank LaRue - Hairdresser
Cy Kendall - Inspector
Yolanda Lacca
Lee Tung Foo - Servant
William Forrest - Man
Beatrice Gray - Woman
Frances Gladwin - Woman
PRODUCTIO CREDITS:
Otto Preminger - Director /
Producer
Jerry Cady - Screenwriter
Vera Caspary - Play Author
Jay Dratler - Screenwriter
Samuel Hoffenstein -
Screenwriter
Ring Lardner, Jr. -
Screenwriter
Elizabeth Reinhardt -
Screenwriter
Joseph La Shelle -
Cinematographer
David Raksin - Composer
(Music Score)
Louis Loeffler - Editor
Paul Fox - Production
Designer / Set Designer
Thomas K. Little - Production
Designer / Set Designer
Leland Fuller - Art Director
Lyle Wheeler - Art Director
Emil Newman - Musical
Direction/Supervision
Bonnie Cashin - Costume
Designer
Guy Pearce - Makeup
Fred Sersen - Special Effects
Harry M. Leonard -
Sound/Sound Designer
E. Clayton Ward - Sound/Sound
Designer
AWARDS:
Best Art Direction (nom) - Thomas K. Little - 1944 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) - Lyle Wheeler - 1944 Academy
Best Art Direction (nom) - Leland Fuller - 1944 Academy
Best Cinematography (win) - Joseph La Shelle - 1944 Academy
Best Director (nom) - Otto Preminger - 1944 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) - Elizabeth Reinhardt - 1944
Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) - Samuel Hoffenstein - 1944 Academy
Best Original Screenplay (nom) - Jay Dratler - 1944 Academy
Best Supporting Actor (nom) - Clifton Webb - 1944 Academy
10 Best Films (win) - 1944 Film Daily
Best Direction - Otto Preminger - 1944 New York Film Critics
Circle
U.S. National Film Registry (win) - 1999 Library of Congress
SIMILAR MOVIES:
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947, Peter Godfrey)
The Maltese Falcon (1931, Roy Del Ruth)
Still of the Night (1982, Robert Benton)
Midnight Lace (1960, David Miller)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950, Otto Preminger)
Seconds (1966, John Frankenheimer)
Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock)
I Wake up Screaming (1941, H. Bruce Humberstone)
Suspicion (1941, Alfred Hitchcock)
MOVIES WITH THE SAME
PERSONNEL:
Fallen Angel (1945, Otto Preminger)
Tales of Terror (1962, Roger Corman)
The 13th Letter (1951, Otto Preminger)
While the City Sleeps (1956, Fritz Lang)
Whirlpool (1949, Otto Preminger)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950, Otto Preminger)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959, Otto Preminger)
The Dark Corner (1946, Henry Hathaway)