Laura (1944): A Review

LAURA (1944)

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Dana Andrews.

Film noir never came so lush and elegant as it does in Laura. Excellent performances, a daring twist and a deeply romantic score create one of the most fascinating and beautiful mysteries ever made. 

Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) has been murdered. Who would want this beautiful businesswoman iced? That is what Detective Marc McPherson (Dana Andrews) has to find out. McPherson is a hard-bitten, cynical man. He is more cynical when he has to go around the posh crowd that make up the suspects.

There is bitchy newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb). He was Laura's mentor, who introduced her to the upper echelons of society. Lydecker got Laura her start by endorsing her advertising company's pen. That eventually helped set her up at her own agency, where she went from strength to strength.

Lydecker, however, was possessive of Laura. There was no intimacy between them, more of a sugar daddy with a pretty young thing he could escort but not touch. Still, it drove Lydecker into rage if anyone so much as looked upon Laura, let alone touched her in any way. One person who did want to touch her was Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). He is a charming ne'er-do-well, living off both his personality and Laura's Aunt Ann Tredwell (Judith Anderson). Shelby is breezy and lighthearted, scion of a wealthy family fallen on hard times. Shelby may be Ann's kept man, but he also keeps company with Laura.

Each of them had reason to murder Laura. Lydecker could not tolerate anyone else "possessing" Laura. Shelby feared that she might break off their engagement, especially after she finds he's been seeing a certain Diane Redfern, a model in her agency. Ann would not let Shelby go easily. As the investigation goes on, something strange happens to McPherson. He reads her journals and looks upon her portrait. Somehow, McPherson has fallen in love with Laura.

Then, we get the wildest twist imaginable. Laura Hunt is actually alive! McPherson, who had fallen asleep slightly drunk in her apartment, is shocked to see her come in. Laura claims to know nothing of what had happened. She had been in her secluded woodland retreat with no newspapers or radios. If Laura was not murdered, then who is the corpse found dead wearing her nightgown? Is it a case of mistaken identity? Could someone else have murdered Diane Redfern thinking it was Laura? Could Laura, rather than being the victim, be the murderess? With her apparently back from the dead, McPherson must smoke out the real killer before he or she tries again. Will Laura survive this time round? Will she and McPherson find love with each other?

Rarely do I have strong reactions upon finishing a film. As soon as I finished Laura, I pounded the table and declared, "DAMN GOOD MOVIE!". Laura runs a crisp 88 minutes, and not one moment is wasted. Laura has everyone one could wish for in a movie. It has an engaging story. It has brilliant performances. It has a twist that is open to interpretation. Everything in director Otto Preminger's adaption of the Vera Caspary novel works. 

Laura is unique among film noirs in that with perhaps one exception, it goes against almost all the conventions of the genre. Noir films tend to center around desperate people in the lower rungs of society. Laura, however, takes place in the poshest of locales. There are no shifty dames or hardscrabble, shadowy figures. This noir takes place in lavish apartments and chic restaurants. These are wealthy people, successful in business and the arts. Laura is an elegant noir, but it still is noir. There's a murder. There is an alluring woman leading our hero through a curious journey (albeit mostly from beyond the grave).

There is also the distinct possibility that it is not real. Laura carries with it a curious sense of a dream. We learn that McPherson has put in a bid for Laura's portrait. Our hero has become obsessed with the murdered woman. As Preminger filmed it, a strong case can be mounted that Laura slips from noir to fantasy. As McPherson falls asleep, the camera moves forward towards him, then moves away. 

Once that happens, Laura suddenly appears forty-six minutes into the film. From that point on, one is never completely sure if Laura Hunt really is alive or if all that comes at this point is McPherson dreaming or wishing or fantasizing his dream woman is still alive. I have seen Laura twice. The first time, I was shocked by the twist of her return from the grave and took things at face value. Having seen it again, I now wonder if the whole thing was a wish fulfillment on McPherson's part.

Yes, there is a strange logic to how it was Diana Redfern and not Laura Hunt who was the real murder victim. However, there is also on how Laura, the obscure object of desire for McPherson, ends up falling in love with him. The case is resolved in a clever way. There are now no more impediments to McPherson having Laura all to himself. 

Preminger and screenwriters Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhart (all of whom received Oscar nominations for their work on the film) allows for two interpretations. Laura could be a straightforward mystery where Laura's resurrection is true. Laura could also be a straightforward mystery until Laura's resurrection occurs, at which point it slips into McPherson's dream to fulfill his own private desires. Either interpretation works. It is up to the viewer which version he or she believes. 

There is not a bad performance throughout the film. Gene Tierney was one of the most beautiful women to grace the screen. Laura gives her a chance to showcase that beauty. However, it also shows her as a woman who grows. She does not appear until about fifteen minutes into the film. By that time, we have anticipated what kind of figure our mysterious title character will be. Tierney starts out as a bit naive and sweet, but with a quiet determination. She may be hesitant against the obnoxious Lydecker, but she also tells him that she pities him. As the film continues, Tierney makes Laura into a woman who grows in confidence. 

Dana Andrews is probably the only Laura actor who plays up to a more traditional noir figure. As Detective McPherson, Andrews makes his character cynical and jaded. To him, all women are "dolls or dames" as Lydecker sneeringly tells him. If McPherson had referred to Laura or Ann as "broads", he would have had a trifecta. Andrews' performance shifts from the jaded to the quietly yearnful. "Dames always pulling a switch on you", he tells a fellow cop when Laura returns. You see Andrews' shift into a man in love, but who still seeks to find the truth.

The three supporting players also did well. Clifton Webb was singled out with a Best Supporting Actor nomination (the film also recognized in the Black-and-White Art Direction and Cinematography categories, winning in the latter). His Waldo Lydecker is bitchy and snippy, able to throw barbs with naked abandon. He calls Shelby a "male beauty in distress" to his face. When recounting to McPherson how he got rid of another rival (the painter of Laura's portrait), his sneer is palpable. "It was a masterpiece because it was a labor of love", he tells the detective, fully aware that this was not a compliment but an admission of triumph over a potential rival. 

Webb's Lydecker is the voiceover you hear in the beginning. Here, we see a slight contravention of expectations. Lydecker is not our guide through this world. He is closer to an unreliable narrator. Lydecker can give as good as he gets in the insults department. When Shelby sees who Laura's companion is, he is not impressed. "Oh, him," Shelby tells Laura. "I'll bet he's still doing the polka". "Yes. Betsy Ross taught it me," Lydecker replies. Waldo is an expert at the witty comebacks and insults.

Webb also shows him to be possessive, almost dangerously so. He is cold and passive-aggressive and controlled throughout. It is surprising to see Clifton Webb being surprisingly menacing in Laura. It does stretch the imagination that Lydecker can be romantically or erotically desirous of Laura Hunt. This is a man who seems to have no problem emerging from the bathtub in front of a non-plussed McPherson. He in a controlled rage berates Laura for finding McPherson attractive, diminishing him as "muscular and handsome in a cheap sort of way". Still, Clifton Webb impresses as Waldo Lydecker.

Both Vincent Price and Judith Anderson did well in their roles too. Price has a breezy charm as Shelby Carpenter. We see someone who has gotten through life with charm and good humor. We also see his selfishness and cowardice when he both cheats on Laura with Diane and when he apparently left his unfortunate mistress dead. Anderson shows Ann to be besotted with Shelby with glances and gestures. 

One of if perhaps the most memorable aspects of Laura is David Raksin's score. His music, specifically the theme, evokes a lushness and romance not usually associated with film noir. The theme adds to the romantic, dreamlike atmosphere in the film. It is a theme that plays throughout Laura in many versions. It can be jazzy, it can be elegant, it can be mournful. The theme in Laura is deeply beautiful and haunting. 

Laura is simply a beautiful, brilliant film. Everything within it blends so well that one ends the film with deep respect and admiration for all the work within it. Laura is, to quote another noir film, the stuff that dreams are made of.

DECISION: A+