Won: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Joseph LaShelle), 1945 A quintessential film-noir, Laura, directed by the masterful Otto Preminger, was nominated for five Oscars at the 1945 Academy Awards, including Best Director (Preminger), Screenplay (Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, Elizabeth Reinhardt), and Actor in a Supporting Role (the wonderful Clifton Webb). The film won only one, deservedly taking home the cinematography Oscar back when that category was split into both colour and black-and-white sections. The winner, Joseph LaShelle, who was nominated a further eight times in his career (Laura was his first), bathes the film in all the classic film-noir tropes, obscuring characters in shadow, dolloping pools of shade all over the place, using Venetian blinds and picture frames and hats and mirrors to convey mood and atmosphere, light and dark, good and evil. One of the most subversive of all film-noirs, Laura is a crowning achievement in the genre, and probably one of the ten or so absolutely essential films in the canon. As shot by LaShelle, it's also one of the best looking of all film-noirs, making it, by extension, one of the best looking of all films, regardless of genre. Add one further extension and it's not hyperbole to suggest that this is one of the most visually impressive films on all of Netflix. Are there any more Oscar-winning films on Netflix? Shout out any more down in the comments.
