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).

Laura (1944)

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).

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Laura was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1999.

Academy Awards 1944 --- Ceremony Number 17 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorClifton WebbNominated
Best Art DirectionArt Direction: Lyle Wheeler, Leland Fuller; Interior Decoration: Thomas LittleNominated
Best CinematographyJoseph LaShelleWon
Best DirectorOtto PremingerNominated
Best WritingJay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Betty ReinhardtNominated
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BlogHub Articles:

Day 19 of Noirvember: Happy birthday to Laura and Waldo!

By shadowsandsatin on Nov 19, 2019 From Shadows and Satin

November 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 Noirish

The 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 Noirish

The 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 Noirish

I’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


book: Sunburn (2018) by Laura Lippman

By John Grant on Aug 21, 2018 From Noirish

A silky-smooth piece of noir. If a writer like James M. Cain or David Goodis had mellowed with age, had become a little less disenchanted with his fellow man, he might have produced something like Sunburn. Here we have a femme fatale, Polly, who’s as ruthless and seductive as any, yet whose mo... Read full article


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Quotes from

Waldo Lydecker: Let's not be psychiatric. But in a word, yes.


Mark MacPherson: On Saturday when our men went to the hotel to tell you that Laura Hunt was dead you seemed sincerely shocked.
Shelby Carpenter: I was. I hadn't expected that mistake.
Mark MacPherson: But you had your alibi ready no matter who was dead.


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.


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Facts about

Vera Caspary's novel "Laura" falls into five sections and five separate voices, telling its story from the viewpoint of each of its principal characters. It was too cumbersome a structure for a 1940s mystery, so the script (by Jay Dratler and others) simplifies and concentrates the narrative for director Otto Preminger to play with.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 23, 1950 with Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney and Clifton Webb reprising their film roles.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on August 20, 1945 with Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb reprising their film roles.
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National Film Registry

Laura

Released 1944
Inducted 1999
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