Laura (1944)

Waldo Lydecker: You'd better watch out, McPherson, or you'll finish up in a psychiatric ward. I doubt they've ever had a patient who fell in love with a corpse.

Director:  Otto Preminger
Producer:  Otto Preminger
Main Cast:  Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price
Runtime:  88 minutes

Everyone loves a good solid mystery movie that keeps you guessing.  With a good story, solid cast and top-notch director the film was bound to be a success and now some 73 years later it still stands as being a quality movie that can be watched over and over.

Police Detective Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is sent to investigate the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) who was gunned down at the front door of her apartment.  McPherson begins his investigations by questioning her friends such as the rich Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson) and Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price) and they all bring pieces of information to help McPherson piece together what Laura was like but little about who would really want to kill her.  She was someone who was deeply loved by all who met her and this puzzles McPherson as he stands in Laura’s apartment gazing at her portrait on the wall.  Then one night during his investigation something completely bizarre happens that makes him reconsider everything he knew about the case.

It an odd movie in a way because the movie begins after the murder has been committed so we don’t see how it was done nor exactly what happened to Laura, the movie just begins with the opening of the investigation.  The main theme song plays over and over and we see Laura’s portrait on the wall several times drawing us closer to this character that we only see a few flashbacks of in the first half of the movie and the tension rises as we hit the second half of the film.  This is a quality movie that has stood the test of time.  The acting is very well done and the story told wonderfully whilst still retaining that mystery about it.

It’s quite amazing to see how such a lovable character as Laura was played by the same person who played the horrible possessive Ellen in Leaver Her to Heaven and it just shows Gene’s ability to adapt to various roles when required however, like many Hollywood stars, her real life was not as glamorous as it appeared on screen.

I had heard about this movie many times and when I finally bought a copy of the DVD I can see why it was so highly praised (currently 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.1 on IMDB).  An excellent Film Noir and outstanding mystery/drama that is worth your time.   

Both Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews reunited in another excellent Otto Preminger film called Where the Sidewalk Ends in 1950.

The DVD reviewed is the now out of print Australian two-disc special edition.  You can get an imported copy of the film from the UK or USA but will likely just contain the movie or perhaps a few small extras unless you go for the Fox version from the USA which has roughly the same extras as reviewed here.

The image quality is generally very good though it does vary a little at times but overall quite pleasing and is in the usual 1.33:1 aspect ratio with a pretty standard sound audio though not as detailed as other restored releases but quite adequate.  The extras however are very good being:

• Audio Commentary by Composer David Raksin and Jeanine Basinger
• Audio Commentary by Film Historian Rudy Behlmer
•  Extended Scene (including the ability to play the movie with the extended scene inserted into the movie)
• The extended scene with a commentary by Rudy Behlmer
• Documentary – The Obsession
• A&E Biography: Gene Tierney – A Shattered Portrait (44 minutes)
• A&E Biography: Vincent Price – The Versatile Villain (44 minutes)
• Theatrical Trailer-          

Overall this is an outstanding movie presented on an outstanding DVD with plenty of extras should you wish to dig deeper into the film, production and stars including those two 44 minutes documentaries on the two stars in the film.  The movie is an excellent Noir that is often seen on many “Best of” lists and would be both Gene Tierney and Otto Preminger’s most memorable film.  Do yourself a favour and check out this great film.  Very Highly Recommended.

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