The news of murder of Laura Hunt, a famous advertising executive, at her apartment, sends shock waves through the city. Detective Mark is sent to question the possible suspects, and starts off with newspaper columnist Waldo, Laura's friend. Waldo helped Laura start off in business when he endorsed her pen. Waldo decides to accompany Mark on his way to interrogate other people, as well. Mark questions Laura's fiance, Shelby, and Laura's aunt, Ann. One evening, as Mark fell asleep, he is shocked to see Laura return to her apartment—she wasn't murdered because she was away in the forest, and thus the police find out that the killer confused Diane, a model, with Laura, and shot her, instead, since it was night in Laura's apartment. Mark finally figures that Waldo is the perpetrator due to his jealousy of Laura's men. As Waldo tries to kill Laura once again, Mark intervenes and saves her.
While it does kick off with a rather shaky start, especially due to some "smart alec" dialogues which seem somewhat artificial, "Laura" slowly builds its ground and advances into an excellent film noir of 'old school', securing itself a steady place as a classic among the opus of film director Otto Preminger. Dana Andrews is somewhat coiled as the detective Mark investigating Laura's murder, yet the storyline, mood, style and clever writing simply all nullify any complain and end on a high note where everything fits in the finale. The most was achieved out of the cynical newspaper columnist, Waldo (brilliant Clifton Webb), who gives the movie several fresh, quirky lines: already at the beginning of the film, when Mark enters his mansion, Waldo is untypically typing on his type machine while in a bathtub. Waldo also has this line when the cocky Mark enters the door without announcement: "Haven't you heard of science's newest triumph, the doorbell?" In a flashback, there is a delicious sequence that reveals how Laura first met Waldo, bothering him to endorse a product of hers while he was dinning, but he refused, which leads to another great exchange ("But you write about people with such real understanding and sentiment." - "Sentiment comes easily at 50 cents a word"). There is a great plot twist some half way into the film, after which the movie engages even more, while it also offers several interesting character traits (after the twist, Mark calls guests to see their reaction at the new set of facts), as well as wider themes of possessiveness and extreme jealousy, making some film critics wonder about Waldo's motivations: was he in love with Laura or did he just want to be like her? Considering that Waldo might be gay, this even adds further to the themes of transgender projection.
Grade:+++
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