Laura.

A great film noir poster.

Rereleased, allowing a modern audience to saviour a great American film noir, Laura (1944) is back in a cinema near you (well if you live in a big city!) Gene Tierney plays the beautiful young career women Laura Hunt, who is murdered on the eve of her wedding to the smarmy Southern playboy Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price). Other suspects include the wealthy acid tongued newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb) who is obviously infatuated with Laura and Laura’s wealthy socialite Aunt, Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson) who is besotted with Carpenter. It all down to the New York detective Mark McPherson to unravel the mystery, but during the course of his investigations he falls in love with the beguiling Laura.

Gene Tierney plays Laura.

Produced and directed by Otto Preminger and based on Vera Caspary’s 1943 novel of the same name it has a cracking script that relates the story in flashbacks. It’s a tale of romantic obsession that grows into a well-crafted murder mystery tantalising the viewing audience until the last minute when eventually the culprit is revealed.  A truly great film from 1940’s Hollywood that was nominated for many awards but eventually won a well-deserved Academy Award for Best Black and White Cinematography.