165: Laura

US  88m  Dir: Otto Preminger  Key Cast: Clifton Webb and Vincent Price

Based on: Laura by Vera Caspary (Novel)

Laura is one of those films which doesn't neatly fit into a genre. It's largely regarded as a noir but it doesn't feel nearly murky enough and the titular Laura isn't really your classic femme-fatale. It's more of a twisted romance with all the men being in love with Laura, even the detective investigating her murder. 

NYC Police Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is tasked with investigating the murder of advertising executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). Suspects include imperious radio columnist (Waldo Lydecker) and Laura's fiancée Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), tethered to his wealthy socialist Aunt Anne (Judith Anderson).

I think what really works is the strength of the characters. McPherson is a no-nonsense detective who is more than happy to play games with the suspects in order to find out the truth and doesn't really care who gets hurts by his investigation. It's then something of a twist when both he and we the audience realise that he's weirdly fallen in love with the Laura he's heard so much about, suddenly displaying a beating heart beneath his cold exterior. 

Vincent Price appears here some time before becoming known for horror films but you can see how he went in that direction because he manages to make Carpenter an unsettling man, sort of pleasant and amiable but a bit odd in an unsettling way. I liked that Carpenter keeps asking McPherson why he isn't being questioned which is a really unsettling thing for a murder suspect to do. 

Perhaps the most memorable character is Clifton Webb's Lydecker (Webb received an Oscar nomination for the role). He's initially a really likeable man, warm and eloquent and coming across as a father figure to Laura. We gradually get to realise he has quite an unpleasant side and by the end of the film he's downright awful. 

The plot is more convoluted than it needs to be and has some pretty wild twists but I think on the whole it just about makes enough sense even if being incredibly unlikely. About half-way through there's a brilliant twist which really changes things and builds the tension quite a bit and the ending is exciting if a bit contrived. 

Laura manages to be both a decent murder mystery and a  fascinating study on obsession.