In addition to being a fascinating story and a compelling murder mystery, "Laura" employs a technique I've never seen before in a movie. There's a dream sequence in which the dreamer, Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) suddenly wakes up and sees the dead woman who's murder he's investigating. For a moment this viewer, (and I suspect most) found it a little disorienting trying to figure out if the dream is still under way or something more mysterious is about to be revealed. I thought that was just a brilliant way of moving the story forward without resorting to more mundane conventions.
Interestingly, this movie has many Hitchcockian elements without the fabled director's name attached to it. It's a clever noir story that replaces the title character at the center of a murder mystery with a stand-in who we learn about but never see via Detective McPherson's careful analysis. Thinking about it now, one might consider that Diane Redfern's disappearance should have raised a red flag at some point, but the story's compact time frame over a couple of days allows one to overlook it.
Each time I see Gene Tierney, I become firmer of the opinion that she's one of Hollywood's loveliest leading ladies of all time. No wonder her character here held such sway over a variety of men, including the detective who finds himself falling in love with a 'dead' woman. Dana Andrews and Vincent Price are well cast for their roles here, but the real surprise for me was Clifton Webb, a stage actor tapped for the part of columnist Waldo Lydecker, he of poisonous wit and equally poisonous pen. Ultimately, though his revelation as the killer comes across as entirely reasonable, the film crafts an intriguing story in which any of the main players could have been the perpetrator.
Turner Classic film host Robert Osborne calls "Laura" the perfect murder mystery. I don't know if I'd go that far because with a limited number of suspects, one is able to arrive at the same correct conclusion as McPherson. What you do have though is an engaging story and believable characters that make a seventy year old film as fresh as if it were made today.
Interestingly, this movie has many Hitchcockian elements without the fabled director's name attached to it. It's a clever noir story that replaces the title character at the center of a murder mystery with a stand-in who we learn about but never see via Detective McPherson's careful analysis. Thinking about it now, one might consider that Diane Redfern's disappearance should have raised a red flag at some point, but the story's compact time frame over a couple of days allows one to overlook it.
Each time I see Gene Tierney, I become firmer of the opinion that she's one of Hollywood's loveliest leading ladies of all time. No wonder her character here held such sway over a variety of men, including the detective who finds himself falling in love with a 'dead' woman. Dana Andrews and Vincent Price are well cast for their roles here, but the real surprise for me was Clifton Webb, a stage actor tapped for the part of columnist Waldo Lydecker, he of poisonous wit and equally poisonous pen. Ultimately, though his revelation as the killer comes across as entirely reasonable, the film crafts an intriguing story in which any of the main players could have been the perpetrator.
Turner Classic film host Robert Osborne calls "Laura" the perfect murder mystery. I don't know if I'd go that far because with a limited number of suspects, one is able to arrive at the same correct conclusion as McPherson. What you do have though is an engaging story and believable characters that make a seventy year old film as fresh as if it were made today.