Laura ***** (1944, Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson) – Classic Movie Review 335

‘The story of a love that became the most fearful thing that ever happened to a woman!’

Director Otto Preminger’s glorious 1944 romantic mystery thriller Laura in the best film noir vein still exerts its special eerie spell over audiences who love vintage movie thrillers. Based on the 1943 classic novel by Vera Caspary, it is the tale of a cop who weirdly and foolishly falls in love with the very woman whose murder he is investigating.

It had five Oscar nominations, including Best Director, winning Best Black and White Cinematography for Joseph LaShelle. It stars Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson.

In a role fortunately rejected by Jennifer Jones and Hedy Lamarr, the gorgeous Gene Tierney ideally cast as the mystery woman Laura Hunt, a femme fatale with whom every man she met seemed to fall in love. The underrated Dana Andrews is excellent as Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson, the lovesick homicide detective doggedly pursuing the murderer after she’s reported killed. Both actors are perfect fits for their roles. They look just right, submerging themselves in their characters.

Laura has been found dead on her apartment floor. McPherson interviews suspects, building a profile of her, helped by a painting of her on her wall Laura (they used a photo of Tierney covered in oil paint). The murder is baffling. Everyone loved Laura. Then, one night, something odd happens…

The number one suspect of the crime is the viciously waspish egghead Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), thought possibly to have murdered Laura because his love for her was so great that he could not bear for her to be involved with anyone else. Really? I’d have thought this man was gay.

‘I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. For with Laura’s horrible death, I was alone.’ So says Waldo in pulp poetry at the start of the movie.

Homophobic executive producer and Fox studio head Darryl F Zanuck was opposed to casting Webb as Lydecker because of his well-known homosexuality and his effeminate mannerisms that Preminger felt suited the character. But Preminger’s will prevailed and the 55-year-old Webb, making his first film since silent movies, triumphed and was nominated for an Oscar. He enjoyed a long run of success for the next 15 years.

Lydecker is based on columnist, broadcaster and New Yorker theatre critic Alexander Woollcott. Like Lydecker, he was a famous wit fascinated by murder. Woollcott dined at the Algonquin Hotel, where Laura meets Lydecker.

The original director Rouben Mamoulian was dumped after directing some scenes that are not still in the movie. As producer, Preminger initiated the film and now stepped in to direct too. When Preminger took over, he swept with a new broom, scrapping all Mamoulian’s footage and replacing Lucien Ballard with new cameraman Joseph LaShelle. Preminger brings exactly the right teasing touch to proceedings.

The unsettlingly offbeat performances by the cast of gloriously eccentric actors are to be treasured, especially those of Webb, the camp Vincent Price as Shelby Carpenter and the glum and mannish Dame Judith Anderson as Ann Treadwell.

The 20th Century Fox studio provides a lovely looking production blessed with beautiful, Oscar-nominated production designs (art direction by Lyle R Wheeler and Leland Fuller) and Joseph LaShelle’s  luxurious Oscar-winning best black and white cinematography, as well as David Raksin’s haunting theme music.

Preminger hired David Raksin to score the film but Raksin objected to Preminger’s choice of ‘Sophisticated Lady’ by Duke Ellington for the main theme. Alfred Newman, music director for Fox, convinced Preminger to give Raksin a weekend to compose an original tune. Inspired by a Dear John letter he received from his wife that weekend, Raksin composed the haunting theme Laura for which Johnny Mercer later wrote lyrics. It became a jazz standard recorded by more than 400 artists.

Zanuck disliked Preminger’s first cut of the film and insisted on a new ending. But after a screening of this, Zanuck relented and allowed Preminger to reinstate his original finale, saying: ‘This is your success. I concede.’

The original release print runs only 85 minutes, intrusively hacking parts of some scenes because of music rights problems, and this version may play on TV. The DVD version is the restored full 88-minute film.

Woody Herman, Dick Haymes and Frank Sinatra notably recorded Raksin’s poignant Laura theme, with lyrics by Johnny Mercer.

Laura was ranked number four on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest mystery films.

Rouben Mamoulian’s artist wife Azadia Newman was commissioned to paint the portrait of Laura Hunt that entrances the detective but it was not used in the film. Otto Preminger recalled in his autobiography: ‘When I replaced Mamoulian as director, I scrapped his sets, and the portrait of Laura went with them. Portraits rarely photograph well, so I devised a compromise. We had a photograph of Gene Tierney enlarged and smeared with oil paint to soften the outlines. It looked like a painting but was unmistakably Gene Tierney.’ The famous photograph was taken by Fox photographer Frank Polony.

It was selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1999 as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

The cast are Gene Tierney as Laura Hunt, Dana Andrews as Mark McPherson, Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker, Vincent Price as Shelby Carpenter, Judith Anderson as Ann Treadwell, Dorothy Adams as Bessie Clary, Laura’s maid, Ralph Dunn as Fred Callahan, Clyde Fillmore as owner of Bullitt & Co ad agency, William Forrest as Important Client, James Flavin as Detective McEveety, Kathleen Howard as Louise, Ann’s Cook, Larry Steers as Man Dining with Laura, Cara Williams as Secretary in Laura’s Office, and Eric Wilton as Restaurant Patron. Only the first five main actors are credited.

Preminger was in at the very beginning. Vera Caspary’s agent offered him the first draft of her play called Ring Twice for Laura as a theatrical project to direct. Preminger offered to rewrite it with her but they disagreed and she collaborated  with writer George Sklar instead. Caspary was unable to find a producer to finance a stage production but adapted the play for both a novel with the same title and a sequel titled  Laura.

20th Century Fox bought Caspary’s two Laura novels for $30,000 and assigned Preminger to develop them for the screen. Fox studio head Zanuck announced that Preminger could produce Laura but not direct it. Mamoulian agreed to direct and immediately ignored all of Preminger’s directives as producer and began to rewrite the script, casting Laird Cregar as Lydecker. Zanuck caved in to Preminger’s demand for Clifton Webb after Preminger filmed him delivering a monologue from the Noël Coward play Blithe Spirit he was performing in Los Angeles.

Filming began on 27 April 1944, and Mamoulian had problems with his cast from the start, virtually ignoring Webb, encouraging an OTT Anderson, while not supporting Tierney and Andrews. Preminger convinced Zanuck it needed a more subtle approach, and Zanuck reluctantly allowed Preminger to dismiss Mamoulian and direct the film.

Filming was completed on 29 June 1944, slightly over budget ($1.02 million) but on time. It took $2 million at the box office.

Fondly remembering Vincent Price (27 May 1911 – 25 October 1993). The last word can be his: ‘Once we got used to Otto, we had a pretty easy time.’

© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 335

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The camp Vincent Price plays Shelby Carpenter in Laura.