#240: Laura

Release Date: October 11th, 1944

Format: Digital Download

Written by: Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Ring Lardner Jr. (uncredited), and Betty Reinhardt

Directed by: Otto Preminger

4 Stars

Otto Preminger’s 1944 film, Laura, is a film noir in every sense of the word. It is a dark film visually, yes, with all of the genre’s requisite shadows casting gloom over characters trapped by circumstances, but even more notable is how dark the film is in its assessment of human nature. The characters of Laura seem to be the personification of slate, each a slightly different shade of remorseless gray. 

Is our protagonist, NYC Det. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews), slowly falling in love with the murdered girl, Laura (Gene Tierney), whom he’s investigating? How will this influence his investigation? 

What does her murder have to do with her closest confidante, Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), an older man who helped further her career? Did he want something from Laura in return?

How about Laura’s lazy fiancee, Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), who despite being with Laura also entertains the advances of Laura’s aunt, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson)? Were they colluding against Laura?

In a surprise twist at the movie’s halfway mark, Laura herself becomes the object of our scrutiny. Just who is Laura? What’s her role in the lives of these suspects?

What I enjoyed most about Preminger’s film is this feeling that justice could slide away from Det. McPherson at any moment. Rather than having to find the guilty party hiding amongst the innocent, he instead finds a cast of characters that all seem like they could have dirt on their hands.