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)
- Directors
- Otto Preminger
- Rouben Mamoulian(fired afer a few days work due to creative differences) (uncredited)
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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.
- GoofsWhen Lydecker recognizes McPherson's name, one can see part of the waist-band of a bathing suit worn by Lydecker in the bath tub.
- 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
You'll fall in love with this film...
One of the best suspense films of the 1940s, "Laura" is loaded with elegant sophistication, witty dialogue, unscrupulous characters, and romantic obsession, all wrapped in hauntingly beautiful music.
Lovely Gene Tierney is Laura; the young advertising executive allegedly murdered at the front door of her apartment. Dana Andrews is well cast as Mark MacPherson, the handsome, no nonsense detective assigned to unravel the case.
Clifton Webb is superb as Waldo Lydecker, Laura's mentor and an egocentric, effeminate newspaper columnist who has made a career of eliminating Laura's prospective suitors. Lydecker detests Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), a southern playboy to whom Laura is engaged. Anne Treadwell (Judith Anderson) is Laura's aunt who, incidentally, is in love with Carpenter herself.
As MacPherson sorts through the motives and alibis, he finds Laura too bewitches him. In one of the most memorable movie scenes of all time, Dana Andrews gives an intense performance of a man driven to distraction by the story of Laura, her letters, private diary, perfume, and hauntingly lovely portrait above the fireplace. Clearly agitated, he takes a drink as he sits in a chair beneath Laura's portrait. He falls asleep, and the audience is left wondering if his dreams of Laura are coming true, as she appears through the doorway. He awakens and rises from the chair, his soul shaken by the sight of Laura alive.
This intriguing story, combined with Clifton Webb's biting quips, Gene Tierney's beauty and elegance, Dana Andrews' intensity and dark good looks, and Vincent Price's sense of humor, makes this film immensely watchable again and again.
Lovely Gene Tierney is Laura; the young advertising executive allegedly murdered at the front door of her apartment. Dana Andrews is well cast as Mark MacPherson, the handsome, no nonsense detective assigned to unravel the case.
Clifton Webb is superb as Waldo Lydecker, Laura's mentor and an egocentric, effeminate newspaper columnist who has made a career of eliminating Laura's prospective suitors. Lydecker detests Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price), a southern playboy to whom Laura is engaged. Anne Treadwell (Judith Anderson) is Laura's aunt who, incidentally, is in love with Carpenter herself.
As MacPherson sorts through the motives and alibis, he finds Laura too bewitches him. In one of the most memorable movie scenes of all time, Dana Andrews gives an intense performance of a man driven to distraction by the story of Laura, her letters, private diary, perfume, and hauntingly lovely portrait above the fireplace. Clearly agitated, he takes a drink as he sits in a chair beneath Laura's portrait. He falls asleep, and the audience is left wondering if his dreams of Laura are coming true, as she appears through the doorway. He awakens and rises from the chair, his soul shaken by the sight of Laura alive.
This intriguing story, combined with Clifton Webb's biting quips, Gene Tierney's beauty and elegance, Dana Andrews' intensity and dark good looks, and Vincent Price's sense of humor, makes this film immensely watchable again and again.
helpful•11517
- Elizabeth-40
- Mar 30, 2000
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,020,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $151
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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