⚠ SPOILER ALERT ⚠ Do not continue reading, SPOILERS ahead! I forgot to mention this at the end. I remember that Waldo kept on trying to pin the murder on Shelby, even though Waldo himself committed the murder! Waldo wasn't satisfied with killing Laura, he also wanted to frame Shelby out of jealousy! He's just so full of himself. I can imagine him thinking that Shelby is to blame for forcing him to kill Laura. "You've ruined one of my precious collections. You tainted it with your peasant hands! I'd rather kill her than have you take her away from me. If I can't own her, NO ONE CAN!". I wouldn't be surprised if Waldo's subconscious thinks that way. Arrogant, possessive, jealous, insecure, narcissistic, and mad. Not to mention he is also jealous of other men's good physique. He said about Jacoby: "I never liked the man. He was so obviously conscious of looking more like an athlete than an artist."
@@im-gi2pg in "It's Always Fair Weather", Delores Grey has a very funny song, and at the end she sings "I've got a guy who's Clifton Webb and Marlon Brando combined!": th-cam.com/video/mUFJXHiM3D0/w-d-xo.html (wow for that male chorus!). Webb played one of my dad's favorite roles, the prissy, precise and brilliant Mr. Belvedere in "Sitting Pretty" and two other movies. Before cornering the market on this kind of character, he was a stage actor, singer and dancer. Here's the best I could find: th-cam.com/video/Rj0-iwAogK8/w-d-xo.html
The Dolores Grey video. At first, I thought it was a live stage in front of an audience 😂. I'm very impressed at the ways the men arrived and left the stage 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤣
@@henryellow Aren't they amazing?! Delores Grey isn't too well known, but I love her in every movie I've seen her in. Another primarily stage performer who lit up the screen from time to time. She once kept an audience from panicking when a fire broke out in the theater.
1. The theme music for this movie was so haunting that audiences wrote to 20th Century Fox for the lyrics. The studio had to hire Johnny Mercer to write words to it and it became a hit song. 2. My understanding is that the original painting of Laura was not considered good enough so they enlarged an actual photograph of Gene Tierney and touched it up to look like it had been painted,
Upper class apartments at that time often had a front stairway leading to the door that opened into the living room. The apartments also had a back stairway leading to a door that opened into the kitchen are. Lydecker took the back stairway to return to the apartment. He brought along bullets because he knew that he'd need fresh ammo to kill Laura.
I see. I noticed they usually don't lock their doors. The fact that Lydecker had ammo with him means that he already made plans to kill Laura "again" after seeing her alive.
@@henryellow Unlocked doors were not that unusual in America until the late 50's and early 60's. Then people became more concerned about crime. At the time of Laura locks were easy to pick open. In fact you could get what was called a "skeleton key " that would open many locks.
I adore this movie, two big reasons being David Raksin's gorgeous score (one of the all-time best ever) and Gene Tierney's unearthly beauty. But also its unique atmosphere and structure -- it just works. Having said that, I must say (as you did) that McPherson has the craziest way of conducting a police investigation, letting an involved party (Waldo) just tag along everywhere while he questions everyone else. It's also interesting to get an early look at Vincent Price before he became the stereotypical star of cheap horror movies.
I'd never considered Vincent Price to be noted for his hunky physique, as this movie pointed out, until I recently came across a beefcake photo of him shirtless at age 24, looking like the stereotypical bully of muscle beach. In this movie, Clifton Webb would be the guy who gets sand kicked into his face, I guess.
@@PolferiferusII Yes, it's instructive to be reminded that at 24 Price was just another young actor eager to work, and he hadn't found a "type" yet. My father directed Vincent Price in a number of TV commercials back in the day, and always enjoyed working with him because he was a pro and would do whatever was called for without making a "star" fuss. His only (and very reasonable) demand was for a supply of replacement white shirts on hand, so that he didn't have to worry as much about the effect of the hot studio lights.
Ann here is played by Judith Anderson, who was Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca". Anderson was primarily a stage actress, and her most famous role was Medea, in the Euripides play. My mom saw her perform and said she was electrifying.
One of the most famous twists in movie history. Imitated many times, even in a late-1970s adult film entitled Fiona on Fire. Fiona (the Laura of the feature) was played by actress Amber Hunt who's last name coincidently matched Laura's last name in the mainstream movie.
"I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom." Fun Fact: Theatrical movie debut of Gloria Marlen and Jane Nigh (uncredited). Voice Play Fact: This movie was intended to be narrated by Waldo (Clifton Webb), then Mark (Dana Andrews), and then Laura (Gene Tierney) respectively. Mark's and Laura's narratives were later dropped. Taskmaster Director Fact: According to Gene Tierney, Otto Preminger was a harsh taskmaster: "I was on the set before the sun came up and tumbled home at eight or nine in the evening. He was simply tireless. When the rest of the cast seemed ready to drop from exhaustion, Otto would still muster as much vigor as when the day began." Casting Notes Fact: Dame Judith Anderson and Vincent Price also worked together in The Ten Commandments (1956). Vincent Price always considered this to be the best movie he ever made. According to his daughter Victoria, Vincent Price felt that Gene Tierney had as much to do with this movie's success as Producer and Director Otto Preminger's direction: "In his opinion, it was Gene Tierney's 'odd beauty' and underrated acting ability that made Laura (1944) so popular. He felt her beauty was both timeless and imperfect." Music Enthusiast Fact: This movie is famous for the haunting Laura Theme (1944). David Raksin ended up scoring this movie only after Alfred Newman determined he did not have time to score it, and Bernard Herrmann subsequently turned the project down. Despite the Oscar snub of the score, David Raksin's music proved to be so popular that the studio soon found itself inundated with letters asking if there was a recording available of the main theme. Soon, sheet music and recordings of the instrumental music were released and proved to be a huge hit with the public. The first cut of this movie included a sequence in which Vincent Price sings a song and accompanies himself on the piano. Twentieth Century Fox's Public Relations Department planted stories declaring that Price would become the next Perry Como. The number was cut, however, and Price's singing career never happened.
That would've been great, to have the narration done by different people as the story progresses. Each person narrates their version of the story, so we get to hear how they interpret the situation. It sounds like Preminger is strict as well as passionate about his work. I thought every movie would have a recording of their main theme song available. Maybe movies hadn't started doing so back then. As always, thanks for sharing these fun facts 😊
Good analysis. Notice that Waldo's narration ends with Laura's reappearance until the very end when we hear him over the radio. One of the finest film noirs of all time, with one of the best scores. This film and titular character were the inspiration for David Lynch's Laura in "Twin Peaks."
I rather like his almost 180-degree turn-around performance in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Mitchum and Jane Russell where his Jerk character transitions into The Real Good Guy for the final act. I liked his CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR role too where he goes from his typical snobby cad into a beat-down snobby cad.
David Raksin wrote the score, which became a jazz standard. Director Otto Preminger originally wanted to use Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Lady as Laura's theme, but Raksin felt it was wrong for the character. Preminger told Raksin on a Friday to come in on Monday with something better, or they would go with Sophisticated Lady. Raksin struggled with it all weekend. Nothing he came up with was satisfactory. He was stuck, partly because his personal life had been going badly. Finally, out of desperation, he tried a technique he had used when he was younger, which was to improvise at the piano while thinking about something else. There was a letter from his wife that he hadn't read yet, so he put it on the piano and read it while he began to play. It was a break-up note. His wife was telling him that she was leaving him. The dam burst, and the first bars of Laura's theme came pouring out of him.
I haven’t seen this since the 80s or 90s. I first heard of “Laura” as a play in college. I think I saw the play in full instead of just looking at the set and longing to take a theater class. The painting was a main feature. I loved Gene Tierney and her sad true story which Agatha Christie included in one of her stories - or the filmmakers did on a Miss Marple murder mystery. You might want to react to Miss Marple with Joan hicks. My favorites are Bertram’s Hotel; and Nemesis.
It’s a great film. It almost was made very differently different director different cast. Otto Preminger was the producer he became the Director and he insisted on the the cast in the film that you just watched insisted on Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb Director Martin Scorsese considers Gene Tierney to be the most underrated actress of the Hollywood golden era
Nobody has reacted to THE ASPHALT JUNGLE yet. Be the 1st Henry. Possibly the most compelling crime drama of the era. Directed by John Ford. it's the movie that got Marilyn Monroe noticed
12:55 You're a good detective! 14:15 Did Shelby take Diane to Laura's apartment just to hash things out regarding his breaking up with her and soothe her feelings? Diane was in Laura's bed clothes when she was killed. 22:15 Yeah, first part of the movie was narrated by a dead man.
14:15 That's a very good point I missed. I can understand Shelby not bringing Diane to a public place (because he claimed she was very upset) or a hotel (because he has no money). Him bringing Diane to Laura's apartment already reveals part of his shameless character because it was done without Laura's permission (and he stole the key!). The fact that Diane was wearing Laura's clothes could very well mean that Shelby was having fun with Diane (or they were about to) in Laura's own apartment! This is another point which proves that Shelby is NOT a good person.
Bill and Henry both make great points about this film, and there are two more: if you get a chance to see this on the big-screen in a film festival, for example, there's a great chance most or all of the audience will know this film. THey'll be enthused and excited because the Big Screen and Enthused, Jammed-Together Audience delivers an experience unlike these sit-at-home watchings. Next, the rewatchability of this film will be proven because of Bill's and Henry's observations. I consider "rewatchability" to be the ultimate rating.
Vincent Price played a lot of cads in his first 20 years (and, well, beyond-!). Two wonderful cad-fllms are CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR (1950) with Ronald Colman as a contestant on Price's popular radio game-show; and HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1952) which is noir-type with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. In this film, Price's character transitions from The Jerk Of All Jerks into the relative hero of the film in the last third, dominating all scenes even against powerful Mitchum and well-cleavaged Russell. Both are wonderful films in their own right...
Clifton Webb was star in the powerful home-front-war-film THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS (1956) about the British effort to trick Adolf's predictions about a future invasion location. And Clifton would continue his snooty arrogant persona in the MR BELVEDERE series of comedies.
⚠ SPOILER ALERT ⚠
Do not continue reading, SPOILERS ahead!
I forgot to mention this at the end. I remember that Waldo kept on trying to pin the murder on Shelby, even though Waldo himself committed the murder! Waldo wasn't satisfied with killing Laura, he also wanted to frame Shelby out of jealousy! He's just so full of himself.
I can imagine him thinking that Shelby is to blame for forcing him to kill Laura. "You've ruined one of my precious collections. You tainted it with your peasant hands! I'd rather kill her than have you take her away from me. If I can't own her, NO ONE CAN!". I wouldn't be surprised if Waldo's subconscious thinks that way.
Arrogant, possessive, jealous, insecure, narcissistic, and mad. Not to mention he is also jealous of other men's good physique. He said about Jacoby: "I never liked the man. He was so obviously conscious of looking more like an athlete than an artist."
If I was a young beautiful girl like Gene Tierney, I’d pick the hunk. Marilyn Monroe would pick the brainy older man.
@@im-gi2pg in "It's Always Fair Weather", Delores Grey has a very funny song, and at the end she sings "I've got a guy who's Clifton Webb and Marlon Brando combined!": th-cam.com/video/mUFJXHiM3D0/w-d-xo.html
(wow for that male chorus!).
Webb played one of my dad's favorite roles, the prissy, precise and brilliant Mr. Belvedere in "Sitting Pretty" and two other movies. Before cornering the market on this kind of character, he was a stage actor, singer and dancer. Here's the best I could find: th-cam.com/video/Rj0-iwAogK8/w-d-xo.html
The Dolores Grey video. At first, I thought it was a live stage in front of an audience 😂. I'm very impressed at the ways the men arrived and left the stage 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤣
@@henryellow Aren't they amazing?! Delores Grey isn't too well known, but I love her in every movie I've seen her in. Another primarily stage performer who lit up the screen from time to time. She once kept an audience from panicking when a fire broke out in the theater.
You mentioned "Rebecca" Anne Tredwell was played by Mrs. Danvers! Dame Judith Anderson!
1. The theme music for this movie was so haunting that audiences wrote to 20th Century Fox for the lyrics. The studio had to hire Johnny Mercer to write words to it and it became a hit song. 2. My understanding is that the original painting of Laura was not considered good enough so they enlarged an actual photograph of Gene Tierney and touched it up to look like it had been painted,
Thanks for sharing! 😊
_Laura_ and _Rebecca_ would make an interesting double feature.
‘ Rebecca’ is one of my all-time favorite movies.
A Judith Anderson double feature! Very different roles in the two movies.
@@DelGuy03 Yes!
Upper class apartments at that time often had a front stairway leading to the door that opened into the living room. The apartments also had a back stairway leading to a door that opened into the kitchen are. Lydecker took the back stairway to return to the apartment. He brought along bullets because he knew that he'd need fresh ammo to kill Laura.
I see. I noticed they usually don't lock their doors.
The fact that Lydecker had ammo with him means that he already made plans to kill Laura "again" after seeing her alive.
@@henryellow Unlocked doors were not that unusual in America until the late 50's and early 60's. Then people became more concerned about crime. At the time of Laura locks were easy to pick open. In fact you could get what was called a "skeleton key " that would open many locks.
Ah, I see. That was what McPherson used to get into Lydecker's apartment. A skeleton key.
I adore this movie, two big reasons being David Raksin's gorgeous score (one of the all-time best ever) and Gene Tierney's unearthly beauty. But also its unique atmosphere and structure -- it just works. Having said that, I must say (as you did) that McPherson has the craziest way of conducting a police investigation, letting an involved party (Waldo) just tag along everywhere while he questions everyone else. It's also interesting to get an early look at Vincent Price before he became the stereotypical star of cheap horror movies.
I'd never considered Vincent Price to be noted for his hunky physique, as this movie pointed out, until I recently came across a beefcake photo of him shirtless at age 24, looking like the stereotypical bully of muscle beach. In this movie, Clifton Webb would be the guy who gets sand kicked into his face, I guess.
@@PolferiferusII Yes, it's instructive to be reminded that at 24 Price was just another young actor eager to work, and he hadn't found a "type" yet.
My father directed Vincent Price in a number of TV commercials back in the day, and always enjoyed working with him because he was a pro and would do whatever was called for without making a "star" fuss. His only (and very reasonable) demand was for a supply of replacement white shirts on hand, so that he didn't have to worry as much about the effect of the hot studio lights.
Wow, thanks for sharing a little bit about Vincent Price! 😊
Ann here is played by Judith Anderson, who was Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca". Anderson was primarily a stage actress, and her most famous role was Medea, in the Euripides play. My mom saw her perform and said she was electrifying.
I didn't recognize her in Laura. She had a much bigger role in Rebecca. Thanks for sharing 😊
Waldo is an interesting character.
A very toxic, controlling, evil character.
One of the most famous twists in movie history. Imitated many times, even in a late-1970s adult film entitled Fiona on Fire. Fiona (the Laura of the feature) was played by actress Amber Hunt who's last name coincidently matched Laura's last name in the mainstream movie.
Judith Anderson in this and Rebecca .
"I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom."
Fun Fact: Theatrical movie debut of Gloria Marlen and Jane Nigh (uncredited).
Voice Play Fact: This movie was intended to be narrated by Waldo (Clifton Webb), then Mark (Dana Andrews), and then Laura (Gene Tierney) respectively. Mark's and Laura's narratives were later dropped.
Taskmaster Director Fact: According to Gene Tierney, Otto Preminger was a harsh taskmaster: "I was on the set before the sun came up and tumbled home at eight or nine in the evening. He was simply tireless. When the rest of the cast seemed ready to drop from exhaustion, Otto would still muster as much vigor as when the day began."
Casting Notes Fact: Dame Judith Anderson and Vincent Price also worked together in The Ten Commandments (1956). Vincent Price always considered this to be the best movie he ever made. According to his daughter Victoria, Vincent Price felt that Gene Tierney had as much to do with this movie's success as Producer and Director Otto Preminger's direction: "In his opinion, it was Gene Tierney's 'odd beauty' and underrated acting ability that made Laura (1944) so popular. He felt her beauty was both timeless and imperfect."
Music Enthusiast Fact: This movie is famous for the haunting Laura Theme (1944). David Raksin ended up scoring this movie only after Alfred Newman determined he did not have time to score it, and Bernard Herrmann subsequently turned the project down. Despite the Oscar snub of the score, David Raksin's music proved to be so popular that the studio soon found itself inundated with letters asking if there was a recording available of the main theme. Soon, sheet music and recordings of the instrumental music were released and proved to be a huge hit with the public. The first cut of this movie included a sequence in which Vincent Price sings a song and accompanies himself on the piano. Twentieth Century Fox's Public Relations Department planted stories declaring that Price would become the next Perry Como. The number was cut, however, and Price's singing career never happened.
That would've been great, to have the narration done by different people as the story progresses. Each person narrates their version of the story, so we get to hear how they interpret the situation.
It sounds like Preminger is strict as well as passionate about his work.
I thought every movie would have a recording of their main theme song available. Maybe movies hadn't started doing so back then.
As always, thanks for sharing these fun facts 😊
Last time i watched the David Lynch series TWIN PEAKS with people who hadn't seen it before, I has them watch LAURA, calling it, "the prequel"
Good analysis. Notice that Waldo's narration ends with Laura's reappearance until the very end when we hear him over the radio. One of the finest film noirs of all time, with one of the best scores. This film and titular character were the inspiration for David Lynch's Laura in "Twin Peaks."
One of my favorite films! Great analysis!
One of mine favorites😍
Shelby Carpenter is Vincent Price's Best Performance in a Non- Horror Film!
I rather like his almost 180-degree turn-around performance in HIS KIND OF WOMAN with Mitchum and Jane Russell where his Jerk character transitions into The Real Good Guy for the final act. I liked his CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR role too where he goes from his typical snobby cad into a beat-down snobby cad.
David Raksin wrote the score, which became a jazz standard. Director Otto Preminger originally wanted to use Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Lady as Laura's theme, but Raksin felt it was wrong for the character. Preminger told Raksin on a Friday to come in on Monday with something better, or they would go with Sophisticated Lady. Raksin struggled with it all weekend. Nothing he came up with was satisfactory. He was stuck, partly because his personal life had been going badly. Finally, out of desperation, he tried a technique he had used when he was younger, which was to improvise at the piano while thinking about something else. There was a letter from his wife that he hadn't read yet, so he put it on the piano and read it while he began to play. It was a break-up note. His wife was telling him that she was leaving him. The dam burst, and the first bars of Laura's theme came pouring out of him.
That... is actually quite sad for Raksin 😭.
I haven’t seen this since the 80s or 90s. I first heard of “Laura” as a play in college. I think I saw the play in full instead of just looking at the set and longing to take a theater class.
The painting was a main feature.
I loved Gene Tierney and her sad true story which Agatha Christie included in one of her stories - or the filmmakers did on a Miss Marple murder mystery.
You might want to react to Miss Marple with Joan hicks. My favorites are Bertram’s Hotel; and Nemesis.
I'll add them to my list. Thanks for suggesting! 😉
It’s a great film. It almost was made very differently different director different cast. Otto Preminger was the producer he became the Director and he insisted on the the cast in the film that you just watched insisted on Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews and Clifton Webb
Director Martin Scorsese considers Gene Tierney to be the most underrated actress of the Hollywood golden era
Nobody has reacted to THE ASPHALT JUNGLE yet. Be the 1st Henry. Possibly the most compelling crime drama of the era. Directed by John Ford. it's the movie that got Marilyn Monroe noticed
I'll add it to my list. Thanks for your suggestion! 😊
12:55 You're a good detective! 14:15 Did Shelby take Diane to Laura's apartment just to hash things out regarding his breaking up with her and soothe her feelings? Diane was in Laura's bed clothes when she was killed. 22:15 Yeah, first part of the movie was narrated by a dead man.
14:15 That's a very good point I missed. I can understand Shelby not bringing Diane to a public place (because he claimed she was very upset) or a hotel (because he has no money). Him bringing Diane to Laura's apartment already reveals part of his shameless character because it was done without Laura's permission (and he stole the key!). The fact that Diane was wearing Laura's clothes could very well mean that Shelby was having fun with Diane (or they were about to) in Laura's own apartment!
This is another point which proves that Shelby is NOT a good person.
Bill and Henry both make great points about this film, and there are two more: if you get a chance to see this on the big-screen in a film festival, for example, there's a great chance most or all of the audience will know this film. THey'll be enthused and excited because the Big Screen and Enthused, Jammed-Together Audience delivers an experience unlike these sit-at-home watchings. Next, the rewatchability of this film will be proven because of Bill's and Henry's observations.
I consider "rewatchability" to be the ultimate rating.
Gene Tierney had a LOT of men falling in love with her... LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN is a film that might have cured many of those men. ahem.
Vincent Price played a lot of cads in his first 20 years (and, well, beyond-!). Two wonderful cad-fllms are CHAMPAGNE FOR CAESAR (1950) with Ronald Colman as a contestant on Price's popular radio game-show; and HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1952) which is noir-type with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. In this film, Price's character transitions from The Jerk Of All Jerks into the relative hero of the film in the last third, dominating all scenes even against powerful Mitchum and well-cleavaged Russell. Both are wonderful films in their own right...
Clifton Webb was star in the powerful home-front-war-film THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS (1956) about the British effort to trick Adolf's predictions about a future invasion location. And Clifton would continue his snooty arrogant persona in the MR BELVEDERE series of comedies.
Wow, I'll add these movies to my list. Thanks for your suggestions! 😊