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MOVIE INFO

Director:
Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian (uncredited)
Cast:
Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Vincent Price, Judith Anderson
Writing Credits:
Vera Caspary (novel), Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein. Elizabeth Reinhardt, Ring Lardner Jr.

Tagline:
The story of a love that became the most fearful thing that ever happened to a woman!

Synopsis:
Nominated for five Oscars, this stylish mystery thriller twists and turns with new suspects, new evidence and unexpected revelations. A wealthy journalist (Clifton Webb) becomes entranced with a beautiful young career woman named Laura (Gene Tierney). But shortly before her wedding to a dashing young playboy, she is found murdered. Stirred by her portrait, the detective (Dana Andrews) assigned to her case finds that he, too, is strangely under Laura's spell. With its haunting, romantic score by David Raskin, this film from director Otto Preminger is a renowned example of 1940's film noir.

MPAA:
Rated NR

DVD DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD Monaural
Spanish Dolby Digital Monaural
Spanish Dolby Digital Monaural
Subtitles:
English
Spanish
French
Dutch
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
Dutch
French

Runtime: 87 min. (Theatrical Version) / 88 min. (Extended Cut)
Price: $19.98
Release Date: 2/5/2013

Bonus:
• Both Theatrical and Extended Versions of the Film
• Audio Commentary with Composer David Raksin and Film Professor Jeanine Basinger
• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Rudy Behlmer
• A&E Biography Episode “Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait”
• A&E Biography Episode “Vincent Price: The Versatile Villain”
• “The Obsession” Featurette
• Deleted Scene with Optional Commentary
• Trailer


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
Panasonic 50" TH-50PZ77U 1080p Plasma Monitor; Sony STR-DG1200 7.1 Channel Receiver; Panasonic DMP-BD60K Blu-Ray Player using HDMI outputs; Michael Green Revolution Cinema 6i Speakers (all five); Kenwood 1050SW 150-watt Subwoofer.

RELATED REVIEWS

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Laura [Blu-Ray] (1944)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 27, 2013)

One of cinema’s most famous examples of film noir, 1944’s Laura focuses on the murder of beautiful young Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney). Newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) was close to her, and he discusses the case with Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) when the cop asks about it.

Although he’s a suspect, Lydecker accompanies McPherson as he questions others like Laura’s aunt Anne Treadwell (Judith Anderson) and Laura’s fiancé Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). Some controversy occurs, however, as Lydecker states that Laura hadn’t actually agreed to marry Shelby.

From there we flash back to Waldo’s first meeting with Laura five years earlier. The film traces Waldo’s perspective on their relationship and shows his jealousy when she spends time with other men even though things never formally turned romantic between them. Waldo keeps her from most of the guys but he can’t prevent her relationship with socialite Shelby.

Matters complicate as McPherson’s investigation progresses, partly because he starts to fall in love with the dead woman. A major twist occurs mid-film, and the rest of the movie follows all the tawdry elements that led to this complex situation as well as its conclusion.

Laura offers pretty much everything you’d want from this kind of flick. We get a clever, hard-edged detective, a mix of possible killers with many reasons to suspect them, and an intriguing subject in Laura herself. The movie follows her history in a way that shows us why she was so appealing to so many folks, and we also see the reasons some may want to murder her.

Although the film easily could become mired down by genre stereotypes, it doesn’t. Instead, it manages to turn into its own story as it meshes the various elements. It features all the characters well; despite a large roster of personalities, we get a good feel for the different roles. Tautly plotted and briskly paced, it rarely slows down as it presents a consistently involving tale.

Almost across the board, Laura boasts strong performances, though Webb stands out as the best of the bunch. He makes Waldo wonderfully tart and acerbic, but we also see some genuine emotion and feeling behind the caustic façade. Andrews creates the perfect hard-bitten detective, and we get a nicely ingenuous performance from Price; he seems like a nice guy but he maintains just enough smarminess to cause distrust.

Tierney probably acts as the weakest link in the cast, as she lacks much charisma. She makes Laura beautiful but without much depth, and that doesn’t seem to be the point, as I don’t sense that Laura should be a cipher with whom we all can easily identify. Instead, she should have a more dynamic personality for us to accept her as such a success.

Nonetheless, I regard that as a minor concern. Laura presents too many strong points for a moderately lackluster performance from Tierney to cause real problems. Instead, the movie sweeps us along with its seedy tale and does so with style to spare.


The Blu-ray Grades: Picture B+/ Audio C+/ Bonus A-

Laura appears in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though not flawless, the image impressed.

Sharpness appeared strong. A few shots showed a little softness, but those remained infrequent, so the majority of the flick looked accurate and tight. I noticed no signs of jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes were absent. The movie showed light grain and didn’t suffer from prominent print flaws; I saw a speck or two but nothing more.

Black levels pretty deep and firm, and contrast usually worked fine. Some shots could come across as a little bright, but I didn’t think these created notable distractions. Shadows were smooth and clear. I vacillated between a “B” and a “B+” but went with the higher grade due to the film’s age and general attractiveness.

The DTS-HD MA monaural audio seemed fine for its age but not better than that. Speech was the main distraction, as the lines tended to be somewhat brittle; they remained intelligible but tended toward the edgy side.

Effects didn’t have much to do – this was a chatty flick – but they appeared fine, as they showed adequate clarity and accuracy. On occasion, music sounded a smidgen wobbly, but the score was usually fairly open and concise. While nothing here impressed, the audio was acceptable given the film’s era.

How did this Blu-ray compare to the prior DVD from 2005? Audio was a wash, as both tracks had their pros and cons that came out about equal. Visuals showed more obvious improvements, though, as the Blu-ray was tighter, cleaner and more impressive.

We get all of the DVD’s extras, and these start with two cuts of the film. We find the theatrical release (1:27:06) and an extended version (1:28:09). One extra scene creates the different; it shows Lydecker’s influence on a young Laura. It’s a good sequence since it adds to our understanding of both characters, but I’m happy we also get the chance to watch the movie without it.

Next we find two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from composer David Raksin and film historian Jeanine Basinger. Both sit separately to provide their own running, screen-specific discussions that get edited together. A veteran of many similar tracks, Basinger provides the lion’s share of the conversation. She goes over the basics such as notes about the cast and crew, film interpretation, and some specifics about the movie’s creation like script issues, editing, and the music.

Raksin chimes in periodically with details about his own work, some of which prove quite illuminating. For example, the composer tells us how personal heartache prompted some of his material. Occasional lulls mar the commentary and it never becomes terribly involving, but it gets into the basics well and seems reasonably useful.

For the other commentary, we hear from film historian Rudy Behlmer. Another veteran of this sort of track, Behlmer offers his own running, screen-specific chat. Behlmer commentaries are money in the bank, and he provides another good one for Laura.

Behlmer starts with the genesis of the book and notes about author Vera Caspary. He talks about her writing, attempts to create a stage version of Laura, and its eventual move toward the big screen. We then learn the story’s slow progress in that direction, various attempts to get a director as well as the failed use of Rouben Mamoulian and the hiring of Otto Preminger. Behlmer follows the casting and various production issues like set design and score. He tosses out many notes about the film’s creation along with occasional biographical information about participants.

I worried that Behlmer’s track would become redundant after Basinger’s chat. Although he does repeat a few tidbits, the vast majority of his information remains unique to his commentary.

As always, Behlmer keeps things tight and involving. Despite a few lulls, the track usually moves at a good pace, and Behlmer tells us many valuable notes. This is a fine commentary that proves extremely useful.

After this we discover two separate episodes of A&E’s Biography series. Gene Tierney: A Shattered Portrait goes for 44 minutes and nine seconds and includes the usual mix of film clips, archival materials, and interviews. We hear from Basinger, Raksin, sister Pat Byrne, daughter Christina Cassini, actor Richard Widmark, stand-in Kay Adell Stork, and former husband Oleg Cassini. The show follows Tierney’s early life and family problems, her quick path to success on Broadway and in Hollywood, romances and personal concerns, career highs and lows, family tragedies and her own mental problems,

Like all of the Biography episodes, “Angel” follows its subject’s ups and downs. Sometimes it feels like the series’ producers stress the negatives too strongly in an attempt to “spice up” the proceedings. In this case, however, the dark moments don’t seem forced, as Tierney clearly went through many bad times. We learn of all the pressure put on the actress by her father. Mental illness mars her career and other negatives dominate much of her life. The program balances the good and bad sides well and offers a solid portrait of the actress.

Vincent Price: The Versatile Villain runs 44 minutes, three seconds and uses the same format as “Portrait”. Here we get remarks from biographer Lucy Chase Williams, daughter Victoria Price, director Roger Corman, and actors Norman Lloyd, Hazel Court, Roddy McDowall, Jane Russell and Dennis Hopper. The program covers Price’s early life and interests in art and travel as well as acting, his progression in his chosen career and his personal life, successes on the screen and his lifelong pursuit of fine art, and the development of various areas.

Unlike the Tierney program, “Villain” comes with virtually no scandal or dirt. Apparently, Price’s two divorces were as scandalous as things got, and neither offered any intrigue. This comes as a relief after the rollercoaster of “Angel”, as it’s nice to see a big star with a relentlessly normal life.

Granted, it does make “Villain” a little dull at times; I hate to admit it, but a star’s mental illness is a lot more interesting than his art collection. Still, this offers a nice take on Price’s life and career, and it’s fun to see clips from his commercials and other non-film efforts.

A new addition to the Blu-ray, a featurette called The Obsession goes for 12 minutes, 36 seconds and provides notes from film historians James Ursin and Alain Silver, filmmaker Carl Franklin, USC film professor Dr. Drew Casper, and composer/film music historian John Gordon. They give us thoughts about the noir genre as well as a quick dissection of Laura. It’s too short to be a great examination of the movie, but it throws in some decent details.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we get one deleted scene. As I mentioned earlier, this two-minute, 36-second clip also appears in the extended version of the movie. I like that we have the option to see it in either place.

We can view to it with or without commentary from Behlmer, as he briefly tells us why Fox insisted the filmmakers cut the sequence. Note that Behlmer only speaks at the start of the clip, so don’t expect to hear much from him.

A sterling example of a film noir, Laura continues to sparkle nearly 70 years after its creation. With rich, involving characters and a plot that features terrific twists and turns, it becomes a lively little murder mystery. The Blu-ray provides very good picture, acceptable audio and a solid set of supplements. This delivers a very nice release for a classic movie.

To rate this film visit the original widescreen review of LAURA

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main