Laura
Directed by	Otto Preminger
Produced by	Otto Preminger
Written by	Vera Caspary (novel) Jay Dratler Samuel Hoffenstein Betty Reinhardt
Starring	Gene Tierney Dana Andrews Clifton Webb Vincent Price Judith Anderson
Music by	David Raksin
Cinematography	Joseph LaShelle
Editing by	Louis R. Loeffler
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.
Released	October 11, 1944
Running time	88 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Laura is a 1944 film noir which tells the story of a police detective, investigating a woman's murder, who falls in love with her portrait. It stars Gene Tierney as Laura, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. Adapted from Vera Caspary's novel by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Reinhardt and Ring Lardner Jr. (uncredited). It was directed by Otto Preminger. The film's first director Rouben Mamoulian was fired early in the film's shooting due to creative differences. Laura This is a copyrighted poster. ... Otto Ludwig Preminger (December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986) was a film director. ... Otto Ludwig Preminger (December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986) was a film director. ... Vera Caspary was a prominent female writer. ... Jay Dratler was a successful screenwriter and novelist who was considered very influential during the classic era of film noir in the 1940s. ... Samuel Hoffenstein (October 9, 1890 - October 6, 1947) was a screenwriter and a musical composer. ... Gene Tierney Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American actress. ... Dana Andrews Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 - December 17, 1992) was an American actor. ... Mark Stevens and Clifton Webb in The Dark Corner Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966) was an American actor. ... Vincent Price on Broadway as Mr. ... Dame Judith Anderson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Dame Judith Anderson, DBE (February 10, 1897 – January 3, 1992) was an Oscar-nominated Australian stage and film actress. ... David Raksin (August 4, 1912 - August 9, 2004) was an American composer of music. ... Joseph LaShelle (July 9, 1900 - August 20, 1989) was a Los Angeles-born film cinematographer. ... Louis R. Loeffler (February 24, 1897–April 22, 1972) was an American Academy Award-nominated film editor. ... Fox Plaza, the company headquarters. ... October 11 is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years). ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... This still from The Big Combo (1955) demonstrates the visual style of film noir at its most extreme. ... Gene Tierney Gene Tierney (November 19, 1920 – November 6, 1991) was an American actress. ... Dana Andrews Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 - December 17, 1992) was an American actor. ... Mark Stevens and Clifton Webb in The Dark Corner Clifton Webb (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966) was an American actor. ... Vincent Price on Broadway as Mr. ... Dame Judith Anderson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1934 Dame Judith Anderson, DBE (February 10, 1897 – January 3, 1992) was an Oscar-nominated Australian stage and film actress. ... Vera Caspary was a prominent female writer. ... Jay Dratler was a successful screenwriter and novelist who was considered very influential during the classic era of film noir in the 1940s. ... Samuel Hoffenstein (October 9, 1890 - October 6, 1947) was a screenwriter and a musical composer. ... Ringgold W. Lardner Jr. ... Otto Ludwig Preminger (December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986) was a film director. ...

Plot

Laura begins with cop Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) investigating the murder of a beautiful advertising director Laura Hunt. McPherson interviews newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), who relates how he fell under Laura's spell and used his influence and fame to advance her career. McPherson also questions Laura's fiancé, Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price); her wealthy aunt, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson); and Laura's loyal housekeeper, Bessie Clary (Dorothy Adams). Through the testimony of her friends, and the reading of her letters, McPherson comes to know Laura (Gene Tierney), and slowly falls in love with the dead woman, particularly through her portrait image. This becomes an obsession with him -- using the excuse of trying to solve the murder, he hangs around her apartment, and is at one point accused of falling in love with a corpse (by Waldo Lydecker). He falls asleep under her portrait, drunk, whereupon she enters, like a dream or a ghost. It turns out that she was not dead, but that some other girl was killed in her place. Her resurrection starts the detective plot spinning in new directions. There are indications throughout the film that the story is something of a dream or a myth, which helps explain its continuing impact, and the way it moves beyond the standard murder mystery. In particular, the theme of the image raises questions about the role of the movie (and the audience) as image creator. Various scenes conjure up Laura, or focus tightly on her face (in one powerful scene her face is interrogated by Dana Andrews wielding a harsh lamp) -- "is she only a dream"? Vertigo is perhaps the closest film to Laura in the noir genre, with a similar death and resurrection plot and an obsessive detective in love with a woman who may be a figment of his imagination. Vertigo is a 1958 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. ...

Awards

It won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Joseph LaShelle), and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Clifton Webb), Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Director (Otto Preminger) and Best Writing, Screenplay. The score, notable for its haunting title theme (which has since become a jazz standard recorded over 400 times), was written by David Raksin. Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ... The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is awarded each year to a cinematographer for his work in one particular motion picture. ... Joseph LaShelle (July 9, 1900 - August 20, 1989) was a Los Angeles-born film cinematographer. ... The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ... The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. ... The Academy Award for Directing is an accolade given to the person that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences feels was best director of the past year. ... The Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay is one of the Academy Awards, the most prominent film awards in the United States. ... David Raksin (August 4, 1912 - August 9, 2004) was an American composer of music. ...

In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... The Great Hall interior. ... The National Film Registry is the registry of films selected by the United States National Film Preservation Board for preservation in the Library of Congress. ...

Tierney as Laura

Image File history File links Laura (film) This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Image File history File links Laura (film) This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ...

Trivia

• Rouben Mamoulian directed "Laura" at first, but was replaced by Otto Preminger, who also produced the picture. He immediately destroyed all of Mamoulian's footage, including a scripted ending where everything was revealed to be a dream, and brought a new cameraman onto the set.

• Jennifer Jones was first choice for the role of Laura, but she turned it down. Hedy Lamarr was also offered the role, but she rejected the script, later acknowledging that she would have taken the role if she'd heard the film score in advance.

• Otto Preminger's original idea for the film score was to use Duke Ellington's "Sophisticated Lady." David Raksin later composed the familiar score for "Laura" over the course of a single weekend, after being inspired by a "Dear David" letter he received from his wife.

• The character of Waldo Lydecker appears to be based on the columnist, broadcaster, and "New Yorker" theater critic Alexander Woollcott, a famous wit who, like Waldo, was fascinated by murder. Woollcott always dined at the Algonquin Hotel, where Laura first approaches Waldo.

• Laura's portrait is actually a photograph touched up with oil paint.

• A plot of the book Mystery Mother of the Crescent book series has a striking similarity to the film Laura, and mentions it in name.

Rouben Mamoulian (October 8, 1897 – December 4, 1987) was an American film and theatre director. ... Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (born March 2, 1919) is an Oscar-winning American actress. ... Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr (November 9, 1913 – January 19, 2000) was an actress and communications technology innovator. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Alexander Woollcott, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1939 Alexander Humphreys Woollcott (January 19, 1887 - January 23, 1943) was a critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine, and a member of the Algonquin Round Table. ... The Algonquin Hotel was built in 1902. ...

Quote from the movie

"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 were the only human being left in New York. For Laura's horrible death, I was alone. I, Waldo Lydecker, was the only one who really knew her."

External links

• Laura at Movie Tome
• Laura at The Internet Movie Database