Laura (1944) | |
| Director(s) | Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian (uncredited) |
| Producer(s) | Otto Preminger |
| Top Genres | Crime, Film Noir, Mystery, Romance, Thriller/Suspense |
| Top Topics | Apartments, Book-Based, Detectives, Mistaken Identity, Romance (Drama) |
Featured Cast:
Laura Overview:
Laura (1944) was a Crime - Film Noir Film directed by Rouben Mamoulian and Otto Preminger and produced by Otto Preminger.
The film was based on the novel of the same name from & Colliers Serial "Ring Twice for Laura" written by Vera Caspary published in 1943 (novel); Oct - Nov 1942 (magazine).
SYNOPSIS
A classic noirish mystery with a consummate ensemble of actors. Andrews adroitly plays the detective who delves into the murder of the stunningly beautiful Laura (Tierney, in her signature role), with whom it seems everyone, including the detective himself, is understandably in love. But Webb steals the show as Laura's creepily elegant mentor, society columnist Waldo Lydecker. Based on the novel by Caspary, Preminger took over the direction of this compelling mystery classic, which was originally in the hands of Rouben Mamoulian. The restored video includes previously excised footage.
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.Laura was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999.
Academy Awards 1944 --- Ceremony Number 17 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Supporting Actor | Clifton Webb | Nominated |
| Best Art Direction | Art Direction: Lyle Wheeler, Leland Fuller; Interior Decoration: Thomas Little | Nominated |
| Best Cinematography | Joseph LaShelle | Won |
| Best Director | Otto Preminger | Nominated |
| Best Writing | Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Betty Reinhardt | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
You're Invited! FILM NOIR STYLE Continues 6/25 at Aero with "The War Years" and LAURA
on Jun 15, 2023 From GlamAmorOn Sunday, June 25, my 4-part Film Noir Style series continues at the Aero Theatre with The War Years. After my presentation we will screen Laura (1944) with the luminous Gene Tierney and costumes by Bonnie Cashin. Sunday, June 25The War Years 1942-1945 and Laura (1944)2 pm presentation and screenin... Read full article
Day 19 of Noirvember: Happy birthday to Laura and Waldo!
By shadowsandsatin on Nov 19, 2019 From Shadows and SatinNovember 19th was quite a day in the world of noir ? it gave us two of the stars of the film noir Laura (1944) ? Gene Tierney and Clifton Webb. Today?s Noirvember post celebrates this shadowy birthday duo and their road to the well-loved noir that they gave us. Gene Tierney Gene Eliza Tierney was bo... Read full article
book: After I’m Gone (2014) by Laura Lippman
By John Grant on Oct 29, 2019 From NoirishThe last two Laura Lippman books I’ve read I enthused about. Although I enjoyed After I’m Gone a fair amount, it didn’t seem to me to hit those same heights. In 1976 Baltimore numbers crook Felix Brewer fled a hefty prison rap, leaving behind his beloved bride Bambi, their three sm... Read full article
book: Looker (2019) by Laura Sims
By John Grant on Jun 10, 2019 From NoirishThe blurb to this book describes it as a “propulsive Hitchcockian thriller,” a comment that’s both grossly misleading and in some ways justified. To take the latter first, I can see the connection with classic tales of obsession like Boileau-Narcejac’s?Vertigo, which Hitchcoc... Read full article
book: I’d Know You Anywhere (2010) by Laura Lippman
By John Grant on Dec 16, 2018 From NoirishI’ve been pretty lucky with my reading during 2018, taking things overall, so it’s a surprise that, halfway through December, I’ve encountered what may be my book of the year. I’m normally unhappy with genre pigeonholing except as a guiltily deployed shorthand, and all the wh... Read full article
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Quotes from
Waldo Lydecker: [Scene deleted from theater version and restored in 1990] She was quick to seize upon anything that would improve her mind or her appearance. Laura had innate breeding, but she deferred to my judgment and taste. I selected a more attractive hairdress for her. I taught her what clothes were more becoming to her. Through me, she met everyone: The famous and the infamous. Her youth and beauty, her poise and charm of manner captivated them all. She had warmth, vitality. She had authentic magnetism. Wherever we went, she stood out. Men admired her; women envied her. She became as famous as Waldo Lydecker's walking stick and his white carnation.
Waldo Lydecker: How singularly innocent I look this morning.
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Facts about
The film was begun by Rouben Mamoulian, but Otto Preminger, who initiated the project as producer and took over the direction, brought on a new cameraman and scrapped all of Mamoulian's footage.
Vera Caspary first wrote her story as a play, "Ring Twice for Lora", in 1939, then adapted the play into a novel entitled "Laura". The novel was serialized in Collier's (17 October-28 November 1942), under the title "Ring Twice for Laura." In a 1971 article in Saturday Review (of Literature), Caspary recalls that Otto Preminger read the manuscript of the novel and expressed interest in collaborating with her on a revised version of the play, which he would then produce. They did not agree on the dramatization, however, and Caspary reworked the play with George Sklar in 1942. This stage version opened in London in 1945, and on Broadway on June 26, 1947. Preminger first worked on the screenplay with Jay Dratler, then brought in the team of poet Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt.
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