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Laura Overview:

Laura (1944) was a Crime - Film Noir Film directed by Otto Preminger and Rouben Mamoulian (uncredited) 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).

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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Laura BlogHub Articles:

You're Invited! FILM NOIR STYLE Continues 6/25 at Aero with "The War Years" and LAURA

on Jun 15, 2023 From GlamAmor

On 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 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 ... 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 Hitchco... 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

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Laura Quotes:

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.
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: Let's not be psychiatric. But in a word, yes.
Waldo Lydecker: Have you ever been in love?
Mark MacPherson: A doll in Washington Heights once got a fox fur outta me.
Laura Hunt: [Explaining why she broke a promise] You forced me to give you my word. I never have been and I never will be bound by anything I don't do of my own free will.
See More Quotes from Laura
Laura Facts
The first cut of the film included a sequence in which Vincent Price sings a song and accompanies himself on the piano. Twentieth Century-Fox's PR department planted stories declaring that Price (who sang with the Yale Glee Club and had a song in The House of the Seven Gables) would become the next Perry Como. The number was cut, however, and Price's singing "career" never happened.
This film was intended to be narrated by Waldo, then Mark, then Laura, respectively. Mark's and Laura's narratives were later dropped.
"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on February 1, 1954 with Gene Tierney reprising her film role.
"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.
Darryl F. Zanuck was opposed to casting Clifton Webb because of Webb's well-known (in Hollywood) homosexuality, but producer/director Otto Preminger prevailed and the 54-year-old Webb, making his first screen appearance since the silent era, was nominated for an Oscar.
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