Directed by: Otto Preminger Not only was Laura nominated for five Oscars, but it also made multiple American Film Institute(AFI) lists, including scoring fourth in the mystery genre for AFI's 10 Top 10, in such company as Chinatown and The Third Man. So you may have heard of it. But for some reason it still flies under the radar in discussions about the classic Film Noirs. The second film on this list directed by Austrian director Otto Preminger, it was also the first Preminger film to star both Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, laying the groundwork for the later Where the Sidewalk Ends. Laura follows NYC detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) as the investigation of the murder of Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) sends him round in circles, playing games with his mind. It's not like most noirs instead of a dour gloom it has an elegant air to it, a mix between a British and American crime fiction. The murder itself was brutal; a shotgun blast blew away Laura's face, but the dialogue, especially from the dandy Waldo Lydecker, played to perfection by Clifton Webb, manages to spin a debonair air with lines like: "I cannot stand these morons any longer. If you don't come with me this instant I shall run amok," and "I should be sincerely sorry to see my neighbor's children devoured by wolves." He adds that sense of class and style that comes with the British fiction from the likes of Dorothy Sayers and G.K. Chesterton. It's even further set apart from most noirs at its time because of its descent into madness. Detective McPherson's sanity begins to slip as he falls in love with the deceased Laura, whose portrait looms ominously over her fireplace, watching the affairs of the living. The plot itself gets away from itself, like most Noirs, but it more than makes up for it with tone, atmosphere, and subtext.
