The Woman in the Window

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW, coupled with SCARLET STREET, form a formidable duo in Lang's mature American style. The director who may have singlehandedly developed the style that would come to be known as "noir" never relented. Even his latest Indian films are forceful and dense with Lang's characteristic fatalism. He may be more recalled for his work in erecting German cinema, but his cross-pollination with American studio mandate produced a series, from FURY to BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, containing some of the most influential and memorable films from the 30's, 40's, and 50's.

Underneath an ideal surface example of the "noir" construct, Lang interjects a deft psychological evaluation of the increasing voyeurism in American culture -- perhaps encouraged by cinema? Robinson's plunge into fate's grip is all suggested by his fixation on a portrait. Here, Lang smartly plays on the same construct on which Hollywood operates -- the relationship between image and audience. Most potently, he understands that this relationship is a sexual one. A connection between idealized and unreachable models cinema has taught us to build. The kind of kernel that has been gnawing away self-image for a century. However, instead of glorifying and capitalizing on this relationship, Lang inverts it and demonstrates how it can hijack common sense. HOUSE BY THE RIVER shows the same obsession with the human connection with ideals and sex. Furthermore, it introduces a concept key to Lang's greater ideology -- sex and death are forever entwined as basic necessities.

We must immediately forgive the ending, like we must do for countless other pictures of this era. It is remarkable that Lang even managed to cultivate such an unforgiving portrait of Americana. In fact the ending only serves to further his evaluation of the viewer's fatal, sexual relationship with art.

Like they would repeat in SCARLET STREET, Robinson and Bennett turn in a fine chemistry. Robinson is not an attractive man. But he rejects our need for such a character by inspiring the bumbling, nervous moments of idiocy that we all know in ourselves. There is something about the way Bennett lights her cigarettes that signal danger. WOMAN IN THE WINDOW does not present her as the appalling bitch that she would be in SCARLET STREET, but the smoke hovers around her like an evaporating halo. And her youthful power complex is just right for dragging Robinson into the abyss.

Lang managed to be so damning and so hateful while simultaneously constructing a new American style. So many of these films demand a viewing and so few of them get one. A renaissance of this formidable cycle is needed.

88.0

Herr Lang has another winner here with the same cast that he used in "Scarlet Street" in 1946.....wonderful portrayals from all concerned. In both films, Edward G. is caught up in a situation that traps him and forces him to make decisions that go against his sense of morality. Joan Bennett is gorgeous as the beautiful woman who ensnares Robinson in her troubles. Dan Duryea again proves that he was one hell of an actor.....he was stereotyped throughout his career in roles in which he was a coward, a weakling and a thoroughly unlikeable guy and nobody played it better. The story line is gripping and you feel as trapped as Edward G. BUT, it is that ending!!!!! Lang never was one for the easy out but here he must have been desperate to tie up all the loose ends and come up with a believable solution...so he tacks on the worst ending since the Bobby Ewing/Dallas explanation! I was disappointed that he would stoop to something so pat (and he is one of my favorite directors). This film could go down as a true classic and should have except for the ending....that knocked it right off the list. Still, it is very much worth watching and I would recommend it to all who love film noir.

This is a wonderful film noire, a real late night treat, the story may seem a little run of the mill, but there are many twists, turns and red herrings to throw you off, and keep your interest.

The acting is great, Joan Bennett as always is terrific, Edward G Robinson was prolific, and never disappointed.

It moves along quickly, and is never boring at any point. The obvious love or hate moment comes at the end, personally I don't love it, but you must realise it was 1944, the world was at war, people wanted to leave the cinema with a smile on their face, it did make me smile, of course it would never be a tool used nowadays, but things were so different in 1944.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10.

This wonderfully entertaining "film noir" by master director Fritz Lang is a curiosity, defying all of our expectations as a viewer and basically subverting the "noir" genre barely before it had gotten started. The dark shadows, the femme fatale, the harboiled detectives, the murder... all the elements are in place for a typical outing, but when all is said and done, look back at the motivations, the events, even the "femme", and what we have is not a world of evil (the typical "noir" stance) but a world of innocence darkened by a few petty thugs. Like the more obviously subversive (and equally wonderful) "Kiss Me Deadly" fifteen years later, "The Woman in the Window" seems to say that evil only lives when people look hard enough for it - practically a "film noir" rebuttal. As in "M" and "Fury," Lang (a refugee from the Nazi regime) once again examines issues of social evil in ways more complex than any of his contemporaries. Enjoy "The Woman in the Window." The cast is impeccable, the writing a delight, the direction peerless, the music score years ahead of its time. A small feast.

Edward G. and Joan Bennett star in a noirish crime drama that feels almost surreal (with god reason, as the ending makes plain). Robinson is a staid professor whose family is off on a weekend jaunt. He meets an alluring woman who invites him to he apartment for "drinks and." When her psycho boyfriend unexpectedly shows up, the prof ends up killing him during a scuffle. To protect himself and the gal, he gets rid of the body. Then the fun really starts. Edward G. is at the top of his form here, and Bennett is sexy and ever so slightly tawdry, even fully clothed. The ending, which has been used or misused in many movies before and since, here works beautifully. I am surprised I had never seen this particular melodrama until now. I am no spring chicken, and used to be a film critic, to boot.