Director and Producer: Otto Preminger
Screenwriters: Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Elizabeth Reinhardt
Cinematographer: Joseph La Shelle
Music: David Raksin
Studio: 20th Century Fox 1944
Main Acting: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Vincent Price, and Clifton Webb
Otto Preminger’s crowning achievement is one of the most elegant and dreamlike of film noirs. Made in 1944, the first year the classic cycle kicked into high gear, Laura was always a different type of noir. It didn’t reside in the dark urban sprawl of Murder My Sweet or swim in the moral murk of Double Indemnity. Here was a picture that had the sophistication of uptown New York with a MGM kind of outlook for its characters. While calling it glossy like Gaslight or Rebecca would be untrue, it has more in common with those movies than The Big Heat or Criss Cross. Its visual look is hardly filled with the standard dim and dusky design in which most have grown accustomed. There are moments where chiaroscuro lighting is present but it never lasts very long or to signify any action by the players. Camera-wise, the film mainly avoids exaggerated camera angles, consistently set up at eye-level position. The noirness of Laura comes mainly from its script. Right from the beginning, we are treated to some choice dialogue from Clifton Webb (who played socialite Waldo Lydecker):
“I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I was the only human being left in New York. Because of Laura’s horrible death, I was alone.”
What follows is a treaty on obsession, jealousy, and the human fallacy of personal possession.Laura is dead. Who killed her and why? A few suspects emerge. All with possible motives that Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) must slowly untangle. Our stoic protagonist is a calculating practitioner of the art of sleuth. His demeanor is reserved, his emotions hidden under a poker face veneer. He holds his cards close to the vest and never lets any secrets or clues of his thinking slip. As the investigation proceeds, we are secure in the fact that this law officer is the right man for the job. Forget that some dame got “a fox fur” from him once, his real worth was proven when he heroically arrested the gangster in the “siege of Babylon.” The cop with a silver shinbone will undoubtedly wrap up the case within the hour and be home for supper before the credits roll. Yet a curious thing begins to take shape…Mark McPherson has fallen in love with the deceased victim. He is ready to bid on her portrait in an auction. Often he sits in her empty apartment late into the night pouring himself into her personal letters. Trying to quench the love, the obsession he now feels for a beautiful corpse. Deep into the quiet evening, he closes his eyes preparing for some much-needed slumber when…either a ghost, a twin, or even the actual Laura, herself appears. Full of life and ready to satisfy his obsessive whims, we see her in the flesh for the first time. Can this be possible? Has some crazy misunderstanding occurred to our lovely advertising executive or is this all a wishful illusion?
The general vibe that Laura gives during its 89 minutes is one of a midnight dream. The pace of the film is slow and David Raskin’s incredible score conjures up all sorts of feelings we associate with sleep. It has a measured grace and vague moments of stillness. The question staring us in the face is the belief that maybe Laura isn’t alive. Perhaps from the moment McPherson falls asleep in Laura’s chair, he is dreaming the rest of the film. Not a noir nightmare, but a desirable hallucination and a turn of events that would make his waking self very happy. This theory on Preminger’s feature has long been thrown around the blogosphere. I only recently watched it through this possible viewpoint and it further elevated my love for this picture. The second half as fantasy would really tie together the plot holes that are slightly glaring from the moment Laura emerges from the grips of death. It is not needed to keep the film in a place of prominence on this countdown, but it does give the movie added heft and multiple explanations. There is even a theory that Darryl Zanuck actually wanted it all to end in a dream and Otto Preminger shot a conclusion that would have Dana Andrew wake up and declare everything a delusion (although supposedly it didn’t satisfy the filmmaker). If so, I personally prefer the open-ended approach used in the official cut. Without a clear explanation, we can fill in the desired beliefs and possibilities ourselves.
The acting throughout Laura is stellar and first rate. Every principal actor gets to shine and contend with a career best performance. Dana Andrews is his usual dependable self as the obsessed Mark McPherson. Vincent Price, early in his own respective profession, stands out as the sniffling weasel, Shelby Carpenter. As a viewer, I was surprisingly able to forget his long association with campy horror and really believed in the character he was portraying. When McPherson punches him in the stomach near the end of the dinner party, who can’t help but cheer a little. A male beauty in distress, whose mercurial flighty nature is properly conveyed and accomplished by the future typecast thespian. Gene Tierney, as beautiful as ever, also gives a towering performance. Her execution of the role of Laura is just the right mix of strong female independence and justified vulnerability. She is in a precarious position throughout the film and never slips up in the notion that she deserves no less than every male’s undivided attention. Clifton Webb, though, is the star of the show. His pompous Lydecker gets all the best lines and constantly amuses with his razor-sharp retorts and prissy wit. Playing such a strong part with effeminate ease actually also led to him being typecast in the future (Webb plays a similar character in Hathaway’s The Dark Corner with Lucille Ball).
Made early in Otto Preminger’s career, he never topped this film in my eyes. This perfect storm of casting, luck (Rouben Mamoulian was meant to direct but got fired during the early stages of filming), and studio-system serendipity led to one of the first great noirs. Once Laura haunts you with a screening, chances are you will never be the same. The portrait of Laura may not have totally captured her beauty, like Waldo intones, but this film sure does. Revisits are guaranteed…
“It didn’t reside in the dark urban sprawl of Murder My Sweet or swim in the moral murk of Double Indemnity. Here was a picture that had the sophistication of uptown New York with a MGM kind of outlook for its characters. While calling it glossy like Gaslight or Rebecca would be untrue, it has more in common with those movies than The Big Heat or Criss Cross. Its visual look is hardly filled with the standard dim and dusky design in which most have grown accustomed.”
Absolutely Maurizio! This is the film that has always defined the director with so many, even though Rouben Mamoulian makes claim to have directed 75% of the film before Zanuck replaced him with Preminger. But this acute psychological melodrama is far more Preminger than Mamoulian, and the film gives a completely original transcription of the elements we associate with noir. As you rightly note here in this extraordinary piece, there’s a sophistication and elegance that makes this hybrid wholly original, and it’s one that has always inspired revisitations because of it’s ravishing components. David Raskin’s landmark score and Clifton Webb’s brilliant performances have already entered the cinematic Hall of Fame for one, but as you so well delineate there’s so much more.
This is a given for this countdown.
Mamoulian claimed 75% credit wow. I never read that before, but I know his input was somewhat substantial. I love his Dr Jeckyll And Mr Hyde very much, but like you, this does feel more like a Preminger film. Otto had the right tools to make great noirs. Not sure if a 100% Mamoulian Laura would of been this successful. Thanks for the compliment Sam.
Wonderful review of an outstanding film noir, Maurizio. The film indeed has a dream-like quality (a complex mixture of dreams & nightmares, I must add), compounded by the presence of such basic human instincts as jealousy and obsession.
The detective’s obsession with the presumably dead Laura was disturbing on one hand, and lent a peculiar sense of lyricism to the film on the other. The crackling dialogues and, as you noted, the marvelous background score truly added to the morbid yet fascinating beauty of the film.
As I’d noted in the comments section of your review of Preminger’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, I was quite certain Laura would appear somewhere down the countdown… it was just a matter of time 🙂 By the way, Dana Andrews gave typically economical yet noteworthy performances in both the films.
You called it Shubs. There was no way I was leaving Laura off. Dana Andrews was great at playing this kind of role. Like Mitchum he has that sleepy quality that makes you worry that nap time can come at any minute. In dreamlike pictures like this it is perfect.
I had the strange occurrence of seeing this and REBECCA days apart in High School. I was intrigued by the simplicity of their titles: the singular first name of women who haunt their stories. The films aren’t that similar, but the mood and atmosphere they create is. That add seeing them so closely together has forever linked them in my mind.
Like Shubhajit I knew this would sooner or later be highlighted and Maurizio you’ve done a great job here. I, like Sam, love that opening paragraph.
Laura > Rebecca
I agree that they have a similar mood Jamie. I also find the Preminger film more satisfying overall. The fact that it’s still a B picture and holds off on the gloss makes it a perfect film of it’s type. Coming in at 18 shows just how many noirs I love unconditionally.
If I were to present a list of the best noirs, this would be right near the top. Raskin’s theme is famous. I can’t add much more to what you’ve said, sir.
Yes Peter Raskin’s theme has been humming in my head today. It fits perfectly. A lovely addition to a great piece of cinema.
Few actors have been so adept at playing characters so loathsome there’s nothing to do but hate them as Clifton Webb. His character is despicable from the moment he opens his mouth. After that he’s easy to hate simply for being there. There’s no redeeming the nature of the man he plays. He is vile. He is arrogant. He holds his fellow beings in contempt. The few he likes he sees as possessions. He’s patronizing and/ or annoyingly condescending towards everyone. And yet it’s impossible not watch him. Clifton Webb was a master of this. His personality was nearly as theatrical as Price’s. Watching the two of them together is a treat that’s not to be missed. But as you, Sam, Shubhajit and others here say this is a film fueled on all cylinders. That theme song is one of the most famous in the movies. One of the best reviews on this project I’ve read.
Great comment on Clifton Webb’s Waldo Frank. He is so irritating and annoying that you almost forget its a character. His role is Hall Of Fame material. You could see how someone else might miss the boat and sink the whole film. His approach is perfection.
Hi! Maurizio Roca…
I read your review Of “Laura” yesterday. Once again, what a very interesting review, well-written and thought-provoking too!
Maurizio Roca said,”The second half as fantasy would really tie together the plot holes that are slightly glaring from the moment Laura emerges from the grips of death…”
Fortunately, I’am glad that the ending didn’t end with a night-mar”ish” or dream-like ending, but as far, as I’am concerned the film ended with a reasonable explanation Of the lead character re-emerging in the film.
Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee ;-D
I just bought this movie as part of a noir package. I haven’t seen it for years so I look forward to a re-screening. What strikes me now, though, reading your essay about the disappearance/death of Laura, and her portrait, and how her presence haunts all the characters in the film, her mix of independence and vulnerability – and how she, or her twin, or a vision of her, appears to a character who never met her…well, I can’t help but be struck by just how deeply this film influenced Twin Peaks. We already know Lynch borrowed the name Lydecker for one of the characters (was it actually Waldo too? I can’t remember), and the first-name connection is obvious but it seems this film had quite an impact on him. In a way Fire Walks With Me could be seen as the “Laura reappears” moment in the overall saga of TP, as Lynch himself has said he made it because he couldn’t get her out of his head, and wanted to revisit, even rescue her in some sense. Obviously, Preminger’s Laura is worth approaching on its own but as a fan of Lynch’s work I thought I’d bring this up.