Laura (1944)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger
(more)

Writers:

Vera Caspary (novel)
Jay Dratler (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

November 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

The story of a love that became the most fearful thing that ever happened to a woman!

Plot:

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

Plot Keywords:

Investigation | Apartment | Detective | Murder | Shotgun

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Gene Tierney	...	Laura Hunt
Dana Andrews	...	Det. Lt. Mark McPherson
Clifton Webb	...	Waldo Lydecker
Vincent Price	...	Shelby Carpenter
Judith Anderson	...	Mrs. Ann Treadwell
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Grant Mitchell	...	Lancaster Corey (scenes deleted)
Dorothy Adams	...	Bessie Clary, Laura's Maid (uncredited)
Terry Adams	...	Woman (uncredited)
Harry Carter	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Lane Chandler	...	Detective (uncredited)
Dorothy Christy	...	Woman (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Kay Connors	...	Woman (uncredited)
John Dexter	...	Jacoby, the Artist (uncredited)
Ralph Dunn	...	Det. Fred Callahan (uncredited)
Nestor Eristoff	...	Man (uncredited)
Jean Fenwick	...	Woman (uncredited)
Clyde Fillmore	...	Bullitt (uncredited)
James Flavin	...	Det. McEveety (uncredited)
Lee Tung Foo	...	Waldo's Servant (uncredited)
William Forrest	...	Important Client (uncredited)
Frances Gladwin	...	Woman (uncredited)
Beatrice Gray	...	Woman (uncredited)
Sam Harris	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Kathleen Howard	...	Louise, Ann's Cook (uncredited)
Yolanda Lacca	...	Woman (uncredited)
Frank LaRue	...	Hairdresser (uncredited)
Kay Linaker	...	Woman (uncredited)
Gloria Marlen	...	Woman (uncredited)
Thomas Martin	...	Butler at Party (uncredited)
Buster Miles	...	Office Boy (uncredited)
Harold Miller	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Forbes Murray	...	Man (uncredited)
Jane Nigh	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Aileen Pringle	...	Woman (uncredited)
Cyril Ring	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Alexander Sascha	...	Man (uncredited)
Harold Schlickenmayer	...	Detective (uncredited)
Larry Steers	...	Man Dining with Laura (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Detective (uncredited)
Cara Williams	...	Secretary in Laura's Office (uncredited)
Eric Wilton	...	Restaurant Patron (uncredited)

Directed by
Otto Preminger
Rouben Mamoulian		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Vera Caspary		(novel)
Jay Dratler		(screenplay) and
Samuel Hoffenstein		(screenplay) and
Elizabeth Reinhardt		(screenplay) (as Betty Reinhardt)
Ring Lardner Jr.		uncredited

Produced by
Otto Preminger	....	producer

Original Music by
David Raksin

Cinematography by
Joseph LaShelle		(director of photography)
Lucien Ballard		(uncredited)

Film Editing by
Louis R. Loeffler		(as Louis Loeffler)

Art Direction by
Leland Fuller
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little

Costume Design by
Bonnie Cashin

Makeup Department
Guy Pearce	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Tom Dudley	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Robert Saunders	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Paul S. Fox	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Harry M. Leonard	....	sound
E. Clayton Ward	....	sound

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects
Edwin Hammeras	....	transparency projection shots (uncredited)
Edward Snyder	....	transparency projection shots (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Lloyd Ahern	....	second camera operator (uncredited)
Frank Polony	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Music Department
Emil Newman	....	musical director
Murray Spivack	....	music mixer (uncredited)
Vinton Vernon	....	music mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Ruth Fox	....	research assistant (uncredited)
Frances C. Richardson	....	research director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox (1946) (France) (theatrical) (as Fox-Europa)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1952) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Fox Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (19??) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2006) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | South Korea:15 (2004) | Finland:S | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video re-rating) (2005) | UK:U (video rating) (1988) | USA:Approved (PCA #10088)

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The portrait of Gene Tierney as Laura appeared in On the Riviera (1951) (in color) co-starring Danny Kaye, then later in Woman's World (1954/I) starring Clifton Webb, the frustrated Waldo Lydecker of "Laura". In "Woman's World" the painting hung on a wall amid portraits of several other women who were supposed to have been former romantic interests of Webb's character.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the detective first interviews Mrs. Treadwell, the position of his elbow changes between shots, from being up to resting on his leg.

Quotes:

Waldo Lydecker: I cannot stand these morons any longer. If you don't come with me this instant I shall run amok.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in 8 femmes (2002)

Soundtrack:

You Go to My Head

You'll fall in love with this film...

One of the best suspense films of the 1940s, "Laura" is loaded with elegant sophistication, witty dialogue, unscrupulous characters, and romantic obsession, all wrapped in hauntingly beautiful music.

Lovely Gene Tierney is Laura; the young advertising executive allegedly murdered at the front door of her apartment. Dana Andrews is well cast as Mark MacPherson, the handsome, no nonsense detective assigned to unravel the case.

Clifton Webb is superb as Waldo Lydecker, Laura's mentor and an egocentric, effeminate newspaper columnist who has made a career of eliminating Laura's prospective suitors. Lydecker detests Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), a southern playboy to whom Laura is engaged. Anne Treadwell (Judith Anderson) is Laura's aunt who, incidentally, is in love with Carpenter herself.

As MacPherson sorts through the motives and alibis, he finds Laura too bewitches him. In one of the most memorable movie scenes of all time, Dana Andrews gives an intense performance of a man driven to distraction by the story of Laura, her letters, private diary, perfume, and hauntingly lovely portrait above the fireplace. Clearly agitated, he takes a drink as he sits in a chair beneath Laura's portrait. He falls asleep, and the audience is left wondering if his dreams of Laura are coming true, as she appears through the doorway. He awakens and rises from the chair, his soul shaken by the sight of Laura alive.

This intriguing story, combined with Clifton Webb's biting quips, Gene Tierney's beauty and elegance, Dana Andrews' intensity and dark good looks, and Vincent Price's sense of humor, makes this film immensely watchable again and again.