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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2017 20:57:27 GMT
Ah! Thank you, Gubbio!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 10:31:07 GMT
DISCUSS "LAURA"____________________Laura (1944) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Gene Tierney ... Laura Hunt Dana Andrews ... Det. Lt. Mark McPherson Clifton Webb ... Waldo Lydecker Vincent Price ... Shelby Carpenter Judith Anderson ... Ann Treadwell Storyline
Detective Mark McPherson investigates the killing of Laura, found dead on her apartment floor before the movie starts. McPherson builds a mental picture of the dead girl from the suspects whom he interviews. He is helped by the striking painting of the late lamented Laura hanging on her apartment wall. But who would have wanted to kill a girl with whom every man she met seemed to fall in love? To make matters worse, McPherson finds himself falling under her spell too. Then one night, halfway through his investigations, something seriously bizarre happens to make him re-think the whole case.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2017 10:32:27 GMT
I watched "Laura" several times and while it's a decent film noir, it doesn't even come close to "Leave Her To Heaven". That's my favorite Gene Tierney movie.
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Post by snsurone on Feb 15, 2017 20:46:11 GMT
I wonder how many of you know that the iconic portrait is not actually an original oil painting. It's a blown-up photograph that was touched up to look like a painting. Now, if you want to see real oil portraits in classic movies, check out the one of Scarlett O'Hara in GWTW which was done by Helen Carlson. Also, the beautiful portrait of Jennifer Jones in PORTRAIT OF JENNIE, painted by Robert Brackman.
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Post by naterdawg on Feb 15, 2017 23:26:02 GMT
I wonder how many of you know that the iconic portrait is not actually an original oil painting. It's a blown-up photograph that was touched up to look like a painting. Now, if you want to see real oil portraits in classic movies, check out the one of Scarlett O'Hara in GWTW which was done by Helen Carlson. Also, the beautiful portrait of Jennifer Jones in PORTRAIT OF JENNIE, painted by Robert Brackman. Yes, both of those portraits are rather breathtaking, especially Jennifer's because it suddenly goes to color in a black and white film.
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Post by outrider127 on Feb 18, 2017 3:41:46 GMT
Saw it a long time ago--I thought it was very good--Gene Tierney in real life went thru a lot of hell
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🦞 on Jan 15, 2018 21:35:42 GMT
Laura is forever on my watch list, I keep missing it somehow, and I hear so much good about it on here. One day, Laura, I shall see you!
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Post by politicidal on Jan 15, 2018 21:55:55 GMT
Waldo Lydecker: I'm not kind, I'm vicious. It's the secret of my charm.
One of the most underrated villains in film noir. His prissy supercilious demeanor masking an unexpectedly brutish violent streak. Oh shit-I probably spoiled the movie for some people.
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Post by Gubbio on Jan 15, 2018 22:58:42 GMT
One of my favorites in the "noir genre." I love the cast, the story, the music, and Preminger's direction. A great classic film that I can always watch. Andrews' performance is brilliant. He does so little, and, in that, manages to do everything. One of those must-see classic films, or, as TCM would put it, one of the "essentials." I love everything about it: The actors, the dialogue, the cinematography, and the MUSIC ! I could watch it over and over -- and watch it a couple times a year. Clifton Webb was great -- and this was his first movie since silent films! He had a great speaking voice..... "I shall never forget the weekend Laura died. A 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. I, Waldo Lydecker, was the only one who really knew her, and I had just begun to write Laura's story when another of those detectives came to see me. I had him wait. I could watch him through the half-open door."
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Post by Gubbio on Jan 15, 2018 22:59:51 GMT
Laura is forever on my watch list, I keep missing it somehow, and I hear so much good about it on here. One day, Laura, I shall see you! You really have to see this movie !
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Post by Deleted on Jan 15, 2018 23:09:44 GMT
Hated it, but I might be willing to give it another try some day.
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Post by Archelaus on Jan 15, 2018 23:20:45 GMT
It's one of my favorite film noirs. Gene Tierney was great in the role and so beautiful to watch. I need to re-watch it sometime this year.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 16, 2018 0:59:53 GMT
One of my watch-anytime, "comfort food" movies, the kind that are like dependable old friends who are welcome whenever they drop in, whether the last time was a year ago or yesterday. It's really rather remarkable that it came out so well, considering all the production turmoil: change of director midstream; massive rewrites and re-shoots; new scenes created and added, only to be subsequently jettisoned and replaced by earlier ones. Yet it all fits together so smoothly; in this sense, it's something like Casablanca. As a director, Preminger doesn't do anything terribly creative from a cinematic point of view; camera work and editing are efficient but rather prosaic. His strength here lies in the elements of construction, pace and the alternating rhythms of the scenes and their content. The overall effect is one of simplicity and elegance. It's here that I depart somewhat from my friend spiderwort and others who classify Laura as film noir. Whether one subscribes to that term as a genre or a style, I find very little of what are usually considered its signature aspects. We have murder and the taciturn working-class detective, but he's employed as a fish-out-of-water counterpoint to the high-style surroundings and brittle personalities and relationships into which the case plunges him. Absent are the standard visual and thematic representations of societal darkness, cynicism, pessimism or futility. Rather than grim, it's "glam," and I've sometimes stretched a point to classify it as what I call "glam noir." More than anything, however, it's pretty straightforward drawing-room whodunit, as sort of an updated and Americanized version of Agatha Christie: murder among the smart set, the primary attraction of which is the collection of colorful personalities who may not be the type of people we'd want as friends, but who are just so fascinating to spend time with and observe. Some viewers find it to be weak in the whodunit department, sussing out the killer early on, but - like many a Thin Man movie - that point is secondary. The fun is in the maneuverings, machinations, alliances and betrayals taking place within an insular but always interesting group of characters. And that, above all, is what makes Laura so much fun to revisit over and over.
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Post by wmcclain on Jan 16, 2018 1:52:09 GMT
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Post by spiderwort on Jan 16, 2018 3:55:45 GMT
It's here that I depart somewhat from my friend spiderwort and others who classify Laura as film noir. Whether one subscribes to that term as a genre or a style, I find very little of what are usually considered its signature aspects. I couldn't agree more, Doghouse. I think I just called it a noir, because that's where most people seem to want to put it, and you know well my conflicts about that subject. In reality, I think I'm completely in sync with you about it. It's a very entertaining, well-done "whodunit" love story with just enough weight to it in terms of character that it's fun to dip into again and again. Really appreciate your wonderful comments and deft analysis. wmcclain Love your great photos. 'Tis a mystery to me how you do it, but I'm always grateful that you do. And I agree with your review - it's a murder mystery/romance at it's core.
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Post by Gubbio on Jan 16, 2018 13:05:15 GMT
Doghouse6Nice review! By the way, I never use the term "noir," simply because there is so much disagreement on what a noir is. To me, it's immaterial; if I simply love a movie, I feel no need to label and classify it. But, that's just me.....
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Post by OldAussie on Jan 16, 2018 13:19:43 GMT
It's one of those rare movies which I clearly recall seeing for the first time in the 60s on tv. Left quite an impression and am pleased to say a 21st century teenager has watched it with me twice. My son might even like it more than me!
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 16, 2018 18:49:18 GMT
I think I just called it a noir, because that's where most people seem to want to put it, and you know well my conflicts about that subject. I remember those discussions and really enjoyed kickin' the subject around. As Gubbio 's comment above suggests, a movie is a movie, and classifications and labels probably don't matter much. But I have to admit, a lot of the fun I get in life is derived from things that don't much matter.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Jan 16, 2018 18:55:55 GMT
Doghouse6 Nice review! By the way, I never use the term "noir," simply because there is so much disagreement on what a noir is. To me, it's immaterial; if I simply love a movie, I feel no need to label and classify it. But, that's just me..... Eminently fair. Something about modern humanity seems prone to assigning such identifiers, perhaps as a way of analyzing and understanding by establishing context, commonalities and contrasts. But it can seem to cause as much trouble as understanding, so I can't fault anyone who rises above it.
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