CLASSIC FILM YOU’VE NEVER SEEN: LAURA

Preminger's film noir classic

Is it possible to fall in love with a corpse? At the heart of it, that’s the premise behind “Laura,” Otto Preminger’s film noir masterpiece. With a succinct running time of 88 minutes, the film keeps audiences captivated, thanks to a vivid character study of New York society. Observed by run-of-the-mill gumshoe, Mark McPherson played by Dana Andrews, he’s assigned to investigate the murder of socialite Laura Hunt after she’s been found dead in her apartment.

Gene Tierney plays Laura and forever sets the benchmark for future film noir femme fatales. She’s mysterious and hypnotically beautiful, and Preminger seizes on the opportunity to exploit her beauty and disarming innocence in strikingly lit close-ups throughout the movie, accented by a haunting score.

McPherson quickly becomes obsessed with Laura and grows to detest her surviving friends, who subsequently have become prime suspects. The supporting cast is first rate and consummately portrayed by film powerhouses Clifton Webb, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson. So taken is McPherson with Laura, he falls asleep staring at her portrait in the dead woman’s apartment one night.

An unexpected twist midway through the film only adds to the mystery over Laura’s murder, but eventually leads to a very satisfying climax. A 1944 film noir classic that won an Oscar for best cinematography.