Laura
- Director: Otto Preminger
- Writer: Vera Caspary; Jay Dratler
- Producer: Otto Preminger
CGiii Comment
This was nominated for the best screenplay Oscar...must've been a threadbare year. But...it did win for cinematography.
Clifton Webb, a thrice Oscar-nominated closeted gay actor...well, it must have been a glass closet...because, he's not exactly subtle (neither were his roles). Unfortunately, this role isn't as bitchy as it could have been...it tries...but, fails.
And, Vincent Price clearly demonstrates that without the campy horror...he was a particularly bad straight man!
As a story...well, let's just say...it stretches the realms of plausibility to a ridiculous extreme...not a sliver of realism...aaah those golden films of Hollywood.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Detective Mark McPherson investigates the killing of Laura, found dead on her apartment floor before the movie starts. McPherson builds a mental picture of the dead girl from the suspects whom he interviews. He is helped by the striking painting of the late lamented Laura hanging on her apartment wall. But who would have wanted to kill a girl with whom every man she met seemed to fall in love? To make matters worse, McPherson finds himself falling under her spell too. Then one night, halfway through his investigations, something seriously bizarre happens to make him re-think the whole case.
Cast & Characters
Gene Tierney as Laura Hunt;
Dana Andrews as Det. Lt. Mark McPherson;
Clifton Webb as Waldo Lydecker;
Vincent Price as Shelby Carpenter;
Judith Anderson as Ann Treadwell;
Grant Mitchell as Lancaster Corey;
Dorothy Adams as Bessie Clary, Laura's Maid;
Terry Adams as Woman;
Wally Albright as Newsboy;
Bobby Barber as Newsboy;
Gary Breckner as Narrator;
Harry Carter as Party Guest;
Lane Chandler as Detective;
Bill Chaney as Newsboy;
Dorothy Christy as Woman