That was Laura... but she's only a dream
Probably my favorite film noir is Laura, the 1944 classic about obsession, famous for the theme song by Johnny Mercer (you know the tune, even if you think you don't). A detective (hunky Dana Andrews) falls in love with the portrait of a woman (Laura, played by the gorgeous and tragic Gene Tierney) whose murder he is investigating. The scene where the very much alive Laura walks back into her apartment, literally making the sleeping Andrews’ dreams come true, is terrific. What’s also nifty is that Laura is a working girl with a thriving advertising career, not just an aimless society beauty. Well, I’ve become obsessed with Laura lately, and now I, too, am seeing her everywhere. (Except on TCM. Why do they never show it? Why!?)
It started when I read an interview with Martin Scorsese on his recent film Shutter Island. (I haven’t seen it yet so kindly do not spoil the surprise for me. Um, as I just did above.) Scorsese said he had Leonardo DiCaprio study Dana Andrews’ character, a war veteran struggling with haunting memories. After that came another reference in a glossy magazine--I'm thinking last month's Vanity Fair. Finally, the other night I noticed that Retro, a channel I don’t pay much attention to, was airing Laura at 3 AM. I gave some consideration to staying up to watch, but decided instead to let Andrews wait for her alone.
(No, I don’t have Tivo and I haven’t figured out the “R” part of DVD-R. Yes, I am a Luddite, and yes, we are allowed to blog.)
posted by The Tailored Woman at Tuesday, April 13, 2010
1 Comments:
It's amazing how well you notice and respond to the signs the universe gives you. I suddenly remember that you changed the topic of your term paper to "The Shroud of Turin" because references to it kept popping up in your life!
Thanks for the heads-up about "Laura", I can't wait to see it! Yesterday I watched "Kansas City Confidential" (another noir) and loved the director, the music, and yes the story is pretty good, too! :-)
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