Still image from the 1944 film Laura.

Laura

Directed by Otto Preminger

A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.

1944 1h 28m Suspense/Mystery TV-PG

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CAST
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0

Otto Preminger, Director
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Otto Preminger
Director

1

Gene Tierney, Laura Hunt
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Gene Tierney
Laura Hunt

2

Dana Andrews, Detective Mark McPherson
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Dana Andrews
Detective Mark McPher..

3

Clifton Webb, Waldo Lydecker
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Clifton Webb
Waldo Lydecker

4

Vincent Price, Shelby Carpenter
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Vincent Price
Shelby Carpenter

5

Judith Anderson, Ann Treadwell
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Judith Anderson
Ann Treadwell

FULL SYNOPSIS

While investigating the brutal murder of Laura Hunt, New York police lieutenant Mark McPherson calls on erudite columnist Waldo Lydecker, a close friend of the dead woman. Waldo knows of Mark from his heroic battles with gangsters, and Mark points out that Waldo once wrote a story about a murder committed with a shotgun loaded with buckshot--the very way that Laura was killed. Claiming to be intrigued by crime, Waldo asks to accompany Mark on his investigation, and the two men call on Laura's aunt, the wealthy Ann Treadwell. Mark inquires about Ann's relationship with Laura's fiancé, Shelby Carpenter, citing evidence that she has been giving him money. Just then, Shelby, a charming Southerner, arrives and says that he and Laura were to have been married that week, but Waldo insists that when Laura canceled their dinner date on the night of the murder, she had not yet decided whether to go through with the wedding. Shelby accompanies Mark and Waldo to Laura's apartment, where the murder occurred, and after Shelby reluctantly hands over the key to Laura's country home, Waldo accuses him of the murder.

Later, Waldo takes Mark to a restaurant and recalls how he met Laura five years earlier: Waldo is dining alone at the Algonquin when he is approached by Laura, an eager young employee of an advertising agency. Laura asks Waldo to endorse a pen for her company, and is hurt and disillusioned when he rudely dismisses her. Unable to get her out of his mind, Waldo...


VIDEOS
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Ben Mankiewicz Intro...
Hosted Intro
Ben Mankiewicz Intro...
Hosted Intro
Ben Mankiewicz Intro...
Hosted Intro
I'm A Natural Born Suspect...
Movie Clip
She Had Something About Her...
Movie Clip
Sharecroppers, No Doubt...
Movie Clip

ARTICLES
SYNOPSIS "I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. The silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. For with Laura's horrible death, I was alone." This unforgettable speech delivered via voice over by Clifton Webb opens one of the silver screen's most stylish and enduring films noirs, Otto Preminger's 1944 classic Laura. It started out as a B picture, but turned into a classic through a series of happy accidents, a collection of superior talent, and one of the biggest and most surprising plot twists in cinema history. Adapted from Vera Caspary's suspense novel of the same name, Laura opens with the murder of a beguiling young woman (Gene Tierney) who seems to have cast a spell over everyone she met. Determined to solve the violent crime, no-nonsense detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) methodically makes his way through Manhattan penthouse society to find some answers. Is Laura's murderer her possessive jealous mentor, the acerbic columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb)? Is it her weak parasitic fiancé Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price)? Could it be her scheming wealthy aunt (Judith Anderson), or is it someone else - an old cast-off suitor, perhaps? Detective McPherson pulls out all the stops in his search for the truth, but he soon finds himself falling for the hauntingly beautiful Laura from beyond the grave, obsessed by a looming portrait o...

ARCHIVES
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 Lobby Card Set from the movie 'Laura'
Laura
Lobby Card Set

NOTES
The film opens with a voice-over narration by Clifton Webb as "Waldo Lydecker." The poem "Vitae Summa Brevis," by Ernest Dowson, is quoted by Waldo later in the film. Vera Caspary first wrote her story as a play, Ring Twice for Lora, in 1939, then adapted the play into a novel entitled Laura. The novel was serialized in Collier's (17 October-28 November 1942), under the title "Ring Twice for Laura." In a 1971 article in Saturday Review (of Literature), Caspary recalls that Otto Preminger read the manuscript of the novel and expressed interest in collaborating with her on a revised version of the play, which he would then produce. They did not agree on the dramatization, however, and Caspary reworked the play with George Sklar in 1942. This stage version opened in London in 1945, and on Broadway on June 26, 1947. Preminger first worked on the screenplay with Jay Dratler, then brought in the team of poet Samuel Hoffenstein and Betty Re...

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