A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 4 nominations total
Grant Mitchell
- Lancaster Corey
- (scenes deleted)
Dorothy Adams
- Bessie Clary, Laura's Maid
- (uncredited)
Terry Adams
- Woman
- (uncredited)
John Alban
- Executive
- (uncredited)
Wally Albright
- Newsboy
- (uncredited)
Bobby Barber
- Newsboy
- (uncredited)
Edward Biby
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Gary Breckner
- Narrator
- (uncredited)
James Carlisle
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Harry Carter
- Party Guest
- (uncredited)
Lane Chandler
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Bill Chaney
- Newsboy
- (uncredited)
Dorothy Christy
- Woman
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Producer and Director Otto Preminger, he had to work to win the respect of the cast, who all seemed "hostile" to him when he took over, with the exception of Clifton Webb. "I learned later", he said, "that Mamoulian had called each of them individually and warned them that I did not like their acting and intended to fire them." It was not true. Dame Judith Anderson decided to confront him on the set. She said that if he wasn't happy with her performance, then he should show her how to make it better.
- GoofsIn the initial long-shot when McPherson and Lydecker are out to dinner, McPherson's chair is unoccupied (about 15:28). When the camera is at their table, McPherson has materialized.
- Quotes
Waldo Lydecker: I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.
- Alternate versionsA scene cut from the theatrical version after its initial release was restored to the film in 1990. In it, Waldo Lydecker described how he transformed Laura's appearance and introduced her to high society. The studio worried that this obsession with decadent luxury would be offensive to WWII soldiers serving overseas, so the scene was deleted.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Vicki (1953)
Featured review
Laura Hunt has been murdered in a most grisly way, a shotgun blast to the face as she answered her apartment door. Dana Andrews as Detective Mark McPherson is assigned to the case and he's got a good list of suspects to work from in this up close and personal murder.
Laura Hunt hung out with some real characters. Dana Andrews has a good group to choose from. There's Vincent Price who was to marry Laura, a worthless playboy who spends his life as a permanent party guest. There's Clifton Webb as the epicene critic and noted wit who was a kind of sponsor for Laura into society. There's Judith Anderson as Laura's sophisticated aunt who has a yen for Price. There's even Dorothy Adams as Bessie, Laura's lesbian maid who is carrying a titanic torch for her ex-employer.
Andrews very patiently and methodically goes through the suspects. In his way he's as officious and annoying as Lieutenant Columbo on television. But he does get to the truth. Of course there's one very big surprise for him during the course of the investigation.
Gene Tierney is Laura and she was a beauty in her day. Man or woman, who wouldn't be crushing out on her. This film was the first one that got Dana Andrews any real notice from the critics. And of course Clifton Webb made a screen debut in this after a long career on Broadway. Webb got an Oscar nomination for his role of Waldo Lydecker as a Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Barry Fitzgerald for Going My Way.
David Raksin's musical theme for this film is one of the great ones ever done for the cinema. So popular did it prove that Johnny Mercer wrote a lyric for it after the film came out. At the time people like Frank Sinatra and Dick Haymes and a host of others rushed to record it.
I guess you could classify Laura as a kind of sophisticated noir police drama. It's dialog will leave you begging for more. It's not much in the way of mystery because about a third of the way through you will realize at the same time Andrews does who the murderer is, maybe even before Andrews does. That doesn't matter though because Laura is entertaining every step of the way.
Laura Hunt hung out with some real characters. Dana Andrews has a good group to choose from. There's Vincent Price who was to marry Laura, a worthless playboy who spends his life as a permanent party guest. There's Clifton Webb as the epicene critic and noted wit who was a kind of sponsor for Laura into society. There's Judith Anderson as Laura's sophisticated aunt who has a yen for Price. There's even Dorothy Adams as Bessie, Laura's lesbian maid who is carrying a titanic torch for her ex-employer.
Andrews very patiently and methodically goes through the suspects. In his way he's as officious and annoying as Lieutenant Columbo on television. But he does get to the truth. Of course there's one very big surprise for him during the course of the investigation.
Gene Tierney is Laura and she was a beauty in her day. Man or woman, who wouldn't be crushing out on her. This film was the first one that got Dana Andrews any real notice from the critics. And of course Clifton Webb made a screen debut in this after a long career on Broadway. Webb got an Oscar nomination for his role of Waldo Lydecker as a Best Supporting Actor, but lost to Barry Fitzgerald for Going My Way.
David Raksin's musical theme for this film is one of the great ones ever done for the cinema. So popular did it prove that Johnny Mercer wrote a lyric for it after the film came out. At the time people like Frank Sinatra and Dick Haymes and a host of others rushed to record it.
I guess you could classify Laura as a kind of sophisticated noir police drama. It's dialog will leave you begging for more. It's not much in the way of mystery because about a third of the way through you will realize at the same time Andrews does who the murderer is, maybe even before Andrews does. That doesn't matter though because Laura is entertaining every step of the way.
- bkoganbing
- Aug 9, 2006
- Permalink
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,020,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $151
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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