Sunday, April 14, 2013

Laura (1944)



So much happens in this movie! Also there are too many people. I can't keep track of how many people Laura is seeing, and how many people are jealous of her.

At the start of the movie, Laura has been killed in her apartment by a shotgun blast. The detective investigating the case is named Mcpherson and he is incredibly hot. I can look past his use of stupid 40's slang because...damn.  He goes to see Waldo Lydecker, one of her lovers, to talk about the case and he welcomes him into the bathroom. Waldo isn't even bothered by the fact she was killed; he's happy just to chit-chat in the bathtub. He even says that he would have been insulted if he were not considered a suspect in the murder case. That man is shady-tree full stop.

We then meet Laura's other lover/fiance, Shelby.  I didn't notice him until I heard his unmistakeable voice. Shelby is Vincent Price! Well that settles it. We all know Vincent Price is a perfectly normal person who has never harmed another human being. So he can't possibly be the killer.

More stuff goes on and gets more confusing until Laura returns to her apartment! Wait, how did she do that? It turns out that it was only someone who resembled her that got shot.  Shelby took another girl into Laura's apartment, and she was shot in the doorway while wearing Laura's nightgown.  Forensic evidence wasn't as good back then as it is today, and besides her face was...blown off, so it would have been hard to identify the body.

Did Laura kill the other girl in a jealous rage? What about the creepy lady we saw at the party? No, it's the shady-tree guy of course. Film noirs are notorious for their predictability. Film gets a 7/10 for being entertaining and not terrible.

3 comments:

  1. Wow, you are just steaming through the movies!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks! I don't own a tv, so I mostly work and then play with my two-year-old daughter. I watch a movie (or half of one), do some writing, and then schedule it to post while I'm at work. And that's how it's done!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love this movie. I somehow managed to have it unspoiled for me, so I, in turn, am vigilant about not spoiling it for others, because it was such a HUGE shock for me when Laura walked in. Oh, and I love Dana Andrews (the police detective in charge of the case). And he is a sexy, sexy beast in this movie. I could watch him fall in love with Laura's portrait every day of the week and never tire of it. That picture you posted at the top of the page? That's my wallpaper on my laptop at home.

    ReplyDelete