Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loving Laura, 4 Feb 2007
It's hard to create an absent character, then feature them front-and-center without destroying all that mystery and power. Just look at "Rebecca."
But one exception to this rule is "Laura," a spellbinding film noir about a rough, clever detective and a society girl suspected of being first the victim, then the murderer. Dark atmosphere, red herrings, and a hefty dose of psychology are all part of the mix in one of Hollywood's strangest love triangles.
A young socialite, Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) has been shot in the face with buckshot. Det. Lt. Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is sent on the case, investigating Laura's aunt, her gigolo fiancee Shelby (Vincent Price), and her best friend, an acid-tongued gay columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb). No one seems to have a motive for killing Laura -- everyone loved her.
And soon McPherson starts to fall in love with Laura too, with a painting as his guide. Then Laura walks into her apartment, alive and well. Now MacPherson must find out who the dead girl was, and struggles with his jealousy when Laura reunites with her cheating fiancee. But who was the real target -- and what twisted motives do they have?
Few murder mysteries of any kind are as tight and perfectly plotted as "Laura" is, and few noirs have as deep an insight into the human mind -- and just how strange and/or twisted love can become. Not many movies can have a guy who falls in love with a girl through a painting, without making it corny.
The movie is taut, intense and slightly overwhelming, with a twist in the middle that throws out all the previous suspicions. It unwinds slowly throughout the film, with the occasional burst of action (MacPherson punching Shelby), right up to an action-packed finale, full with symbolism... and some seriously twisted motives.
But atmosphere alone isn't enough, and there's also some incredibly haunting cinematography and brilliant dialogue ("I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom"). When MacPherson interviews Laura's maid, she announces, "I ain't afraid of cops. I was brought up to spit whenever I saw one." His reply? "Okay, go ahead and spit if that'll make you feel better."
Laura's a powerful presence in the first half, and a less talented actress would have wrecked the atmosphere, but Tierney handles it well. Andrews has a crackling Bogart-esque presence here, which makes us like the only honest guy in the movie, and Webb is brilliant as the tart-tongued, frustrated Waldo, who sees Laura as his personal Galatea. And Price has a small but juicy role as a smooth gigolo.
"Laura" is one of the greatest films noir, full of wonderful acting, dark atmosphere and twisted passion. It's nothing short of brilliant.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fine thriller but not a great one, 31 Jan 2008
The picture nobody wanted, Laura was one of Fox's most notorious bad-luck pictures, and some of the bad luck stuck. After all the studio's A-list directors had turned it down (one of whom, John Brahm, ironically went on to remake it as Portrait For Murder in TV's 20th Century Fox Hour), Rouben Mamoulian began the picture until producer Preminger took over, reshooting much of his footage. Even David Raksin's famous theme only came about when Alfred Newman, Bernard Herrmann et al had turned down the picture. The result may well be an acknowledged classic, but while it's good, it's not THAT good.
Something is missing. That we are unaware of working-class detective Andrews' infatuation with the dead murder victim Laura until until the venal Waldo Lydecker tells him, despite Andrews fine performance, is indicative of the problems of the film. That we have to be told so much instead of sensing it for ourselves is one of the film's greatest weaknesses. Some of this can be attributed to Darryl F. Zanuck's penchant for over-editing - it takes a while for it to become clear that the victim's face has been shot off - some to rewrites, but regardless of their cause, all play against the film. Structurally, too, it is scarred. The decision to reduce the original three narrators to one either goes too far or not far enough: as it stands, Waldo's opening narration is soon ignored and later lacks logic.
Despite her awe-inspiringly bad taste in hats (she favors the S'Wester look), Gene Tierney is all about the look, not the performance here. While the painting of Laura (in reality a touched up photograph) holds a magical allure, she cannot live up to the eulogies of the supporting cast in the flesh. The real stars of the show are Vincent Price's Southern gigolo and Clifton Webb, great fun in an overwritten part as the patron saint of purple prose Waldo Lydecker that makes the film feel like a Joe Mankiewicz drawing room thriller rather than a noir.
Yet for all its weaknesses, Laura is full of good things. There is some brilliant camerawork from Joseph LaShelle, who took over from Mamoulian's choice of Lucien Ballard after filming Webb's screen test (refusing to read for the role, Webb chose to do his Blithe Spirit monologue for the cameras instead!), while David Raksin's theme effectively haunts the detective in its various guises wherever he goes. When the two combine, as in a superb tracking shot that keeps Laura's portrait present in the frame with Andrews as he wanders through her apartment, they become the veritable blood in her veins, creating an impression that no actress could ever live up to. At times the picture even adds up to more than the sum of its parts and it's still a good wallow, but it's one best approached with few expectations if you want to get the most out of it.
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3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good purchase, 27 Dec 2008
I knew what to expect, ie, 1940's film noir told in flashback, and then all of a sudden............ it got unexpected! A good film that I'm glad I have purchased and will definitely keep to watch again. Very well filmed and a good cast - Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb and Vincent Price - with Clifton Webb stealing the acting honours. Its worth buying even if you haven't yet seen it, as I hadn't. Its part of my 1944 collection to stay.
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