Laura (1944)

Otto Preminger's Laura is a film noir film about the murder of the title character. Prior to the start of the film Laura has been murdered and the police are trying to figure out who murdered her. About midway through the film a plot twist has Laura being alive and someone else being murdered at her house while Laura was away. The film then shifts to deciding who was murdered (this was quickly resolved) and ultimately who killed the actual victim.

The film stars Gene Tierney as the title character along with Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, and a few others. While there was nothing particularly bad about any of these characters, they didn't really do anything that stood out to me. Prior to Tierney's appearance of the living Laura, the character seemed rather interesting. Tierney was not all that exciting and was a rather forgettable femme fatale. The other characters came off as equally boring which hurt the film substantially as a good noir film requires memorable characters.

Stylistically, I didn't find this to be a great example of a noir film. While it did have low key lighting, flashbacks, detectives, etc., it wasn't quite as well-done as other films. Major portions of this film took place in the middle of the day or in lots of light. There weren't any scenes that took place in near darkness. The femme fatale wasn't a villain at all in this film and her role wasn't all that important after it was discovered she was alive.

This film was, and still is, received rather well. It was nominated for several Academy Awards and won for best black and white cinematography. The film is often ranked amongst the better film noir films but always behing classics like M, The Maltese Falcon, Sunset Blvd., and Double Indemnity.

70/100
C-