Laura (1944)

I have heard about the movie “Laura” for sometime, but until last night I had never watched this wonderful movie. This is a murder mystery so unlike so many others. It stars Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker, Vincent Price as Shelby Carpenter, Dana Andrews as Detective McPherson, and Gene Tierney as Laura.

The movie begins with the investigation of the murder of a high society woman named Laura. From the very beginning of the movie a detective is brought in to investigate her murder, and as the suspects are questioned it is then that we begin to know the story about Laura. There was just something special about this lady, so special that men were enthralled by her beauty, personality and style. This has a lot to do with the premise of the movie, of the three men that were so very captivated with their love for Laura.

If I didn’t know better I would have thought that the movie “Laura” was directed by Alfred Hitchock. Otto Preminger’s direction in this movie was so similar to the style of so many of Hitchock’s films, right down to the use of lighting (got to love those black and white movies for that reason alone), the background music, of course the plot, and the witty lines given to Clifton Webb despite the seriousness of the movie. When Waldo first met Laura he told her “My dear, either you were born on an extremely rustic community, where good manners are unknown, or you suffer from a common feminine delusion that the mere fact of being a woman exempts you from the rules of civilized conduct.” Another time he says, “I cannot stand these morons any longer. If you don't come with me this instant I shall run amok.”

I was familiar with many of the movies that Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, and Vincent Price acted in and so expected that their roles in this movie would be very similar to what I knew. I quickly found out that this was not to be the case, especially with Vincent Price. In this movie Vincent Price was actually the tall and handsome suitor instead of the villain or evil scientist with the evil laugh like he was in so many of the horror movies.

I enjoyed watching this movie and the twist in the plot was such a good touch (I didn’t see that one coming, and that one, and that one too). It was filled with suspense, romance and jealousy. Now I understand why this movie has remained so popular after all of these years.