Otto Preminger (1906–1986)

Laura is the film which made me fall in love with the movies. When Otto Preminger was told to take over this project from wunderkind Rouben Mamoulian, it was reportedly a mess. How much was already in the can has always been in dispute; some still maintain that the famous opening shots are director Mamoulian’s work. David Raksin’s famous score, however, so beautiful and haunting that it set the tone for the entire film, had not yet been written. Preminger told Raksin to take the weekend and come up with something or he would use Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady instead.

Raksin’s marriage was falling apart at the time, and over the weekend he wrote the theme from Laura as much for his wife as for the film. Sadly, it did not save his marriage. It did, however, change forever this film. Raksin’s score was so haunting and beautiful that Preminger framed the entire picture around it, turning this into perhaps the greatest romantic noir film ever to grace a movie screen.

Dana Andrews had his greatest role as Detective Mark McPherson, assigned the murder of society girl Laura Hunt due to office politics. Wlado Lydecker is also the role for which Clifton Webb might best be remembered. He gives an outstanding performance as the deceased Laura’s vain and famous benefactor. Using his wit and intellect to destroy all of Laura’s suitors in his weekly column, we see everything played out in flashbacks told to McPherson during the investigation.

Vincent Price had arguably his best non-horror role as Shelby Carpenter, the one man Waldo could not drive away. Laura was to have been married to Carpenter, a heel with perfect manners. The more McPherson learns about Laura the more he wonders why such a sweet and down to earth girl ended up a society page murder mystery. She liked baseball and shares a favorite book with McPherson. Her portrait, painted by one of the suitors Lydecker destroyed in his column, hangs ominously above the chair where Mark McPherson reads her diary, searching for clues that will help him unravel the mystery of both her life, and her violent death.

Laura's fiercely loyal maid, Bessie, attempts to protect Laura’s reputation at every turn. McPherson is sympathetic and wants to protect her reputation also, because he has fallen in love with a ghost. David Raksin’s haunting score sets the atmosphere to every film buff's favorite murder mystery/noir/romance. Halfway through this film, on a rainy night in Laura’s apartment, the entire case will be turned upside down in one of the most famous twists in screen history.

This film was adapted from the terrific Vera Caspary novel and is a mystery classic as well. Both the novel and the film are timeless treasures to be cherished. This is one of the finest films ever made and one you simply have to see. It will make you fall in love with the movies.… (more)

You can tell that everyone involved in this movie was extremely talented -- e.g., given the subject matter the dialogue could easily have been over the top, a bunch of heroic expounding, but Dalton Trumbo kept it mostly grounded. However, it never really coheres into much more than a very long string of events, without much character development to speak of. You always sense the high political stakes of what's going on, but from moment to moment you don't actually feel each individual character's personal investment.… (more)