An Accidental Masterpiece

Critic Roger Ebert called it “perfection.”

I call it “The Gateway Drug to Film Noir.”

Nobody knew Laura was destined for success when the cast reported for duty in the spring of 1944. The early signs weren’t promising. Two weeks into the shoot, producer Otto Preminger fired director Rouben Mamoulian, scrapped his footage, revised the screenplay, redesigned the sets and costumes, and hired a new director – himself.

Against all odds, Laura went from hot mess to cool classic.

Gene Tierney stars in the tale of a beautiful murder victim and the three men who are obsessed with her, including the detective who’s tracking her killer. We first “meet” Laura in a painting that hangs in her apartment, but we don’t see Gene playing Laura until 15 minutes into the story, in a series of flashbacks. Gene was unhappy with her delayed entrance. After all, she asked Otto, “Who wants to play a painting?”

Dana Andrews co-stars as Lieutenant Mark McPherson, who falls in love with Laura’s portrait while investigating her demise. Yet unlike the usual hard-boiled cops in noir’s heyday, Dana was told to play the character as if he’d studied criminology at Harvard or Yale. No wonder Dana’s understated performance never feels dated or corny.

Fans who’ve typecast Vincent Price in horror gigs may be surprised to find him as the romantic lead in Laura – a charming but shady gigolo named Shelby Carpenter, y’all. Price considered the pic his best, though Roger Ebert quipped that Price’s faux Southern accent falls somewhere “between Kentucky and Transylvania.”

Judith Anderson plays Laura’s wealthy “cougar” aunt. Movie buffs may remember Judith from her Oscar-nominated turn as Mrs. Danvers, the wacko housekeeper in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 thriller Rebecca. Here, the Australian actress wears fabulous clothing and practically pants like a poodle in heat whenever Shelby shows up.

The real top dog in the cast, however, is Clifton Webb. The 54-year-old Broadway veteran was virtually unknown to big-screen audiences, but Laura made him an overnight sensation. Ironically, Otto cast Webb over the studio’s objections: When asked if he was gay, Webb answered, “Devout, my boy. Devout.” Yet TCM host Eddie Muller notes, “Preminger was not bothered by Webb’s effeminacy. He may have regarded it as a good way to play off Dana Andrews’ masculinity.”

Like most great noirs, the film opens with a voiceover – in this case, Webb’s renowned line, “I shall never forget the weekend Laura died.” Recalling his first scene with Dana Andrews, Webb was horrified. He said, “When I saw myself sitting in the bathtub looking very much like Gandhi, I thought I was going to vomit. After it was over, Dana saved my life with a big swig of bourbon.”

Webb needn’t have worried; he steals every scene with razor-sharp snark that earned him an Oscar nomination. Webb picked up two more Oscar nods for Sitting Pretty and The Razor’s Edge, and in the 1950s deftly shifted between comedies (Cheaper by the Dozen) and dramas (Three Coins in the Fountain).

One other notable point working in Laura’s favor was its haunting title track. Covered over 400 times, by everyone from Sinatra to Ella Fitzgerald, the tune was so popular, it helped snowball ticket sales. In fact, when asked why she turned down the starring role in Laura, actress Hedy Lamarr joked, “They sent me the script, not the score.”

And talk about a lucky “break”: Composer David Raksin suffered a bad bout of writer’s block after being assigned the song. But after getting a “Dear John” letter from his estranged wife, Raksin channeled his heartache into a chart-topping hit.

Final note: if you love how Laura looks, thank cinematographer Joseph LaShelle. His stylish lighting and camera work are a master class in film noir, and they earned him the picture’s only Oscar.