Saturday 10 October 2015

Laura (1944 Otto Preminger)

OK, there's a debate / mystery about this film. According to Lucien Ballard, he and Rouben Mamoulian shot "75 percent of that together" when Otto Preminger came in with another cameraman, Joseph Lashelle, who then won the Oscar.

Preminger wrote the screenplay and lobbied hard for 'light on his feet' Clifton Webb. The film wasn't going well with Mamoulian and Zanuck replaced him with Preminger, who is quoted as saying "We threw out everything Mamoulian had directed and I finished the picture".

To be honest, it does look like Lashelle's lighting, and it's rather beautifully shot, but it's hard to tell.

With Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Vincent Price and Judith Anderson, accompanied by David Raksin's memorable theme, for 20th Century Fox. Has an interesting moment where Webb exposes himself to Andrews getting out of the bath.

(The sources here are Maltin's book on cinematographers and Bogdanovich's 'Who the Devil Made It?')

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