Product Details

• Format: Import
• Region: All Regions
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002HS3CI0
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,536 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

SUMMARY: South Korean Edition DVD/Sound in English / Optional Korean Subtitles can be turned off. Dana Andrews plays the detective who delves into the murder of the stunningly beautiful Laura (Gene Tierney) with whom it seems everyone, including the detective himself, is in love. But Webb steals the show as the ingenue's creepily elegant social mentor, Waldo Lydecker.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars View it several times and patterns start to show., July 9, 2010

By 

bernie "xyzzy" (Arlington, Texas) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Laura ~ Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb (NTSC All Regions) (DVD)

Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), self-centered writer is having his lunch interrupted by a young lady Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) who is soliciting his endorsement of a pen. He takes her under his wing and grooms her for corporate greatness. Later it looks like someone has bumped off Laura. Detective Lt. Mark McPherson is assigned to the case. Somewhere in the process of investigation he seems to have fallen in love with the dead Laura and wants to buy her portrait.

Can we figure out who did it before Mark?

This movie is all that they say it in and then some. Naturally it is not the book "Laura" by Vera Caspary. And due to media constraints some things are implied. The characters do not match the book description.

They could not get a good portrait of Gene Tierney for the picture of Laura so they used a photograph and made it look like a portrait. I wonder where that photograph is today.

First time viewing gives you the impression that Waldo Lydecker, is the manipulative person. Yes I know most of the characters are manipulative in nature. But second time viewing, low and behold; who manipulates Waldo from the very beginning and uses his connections to clime the corporate latter? Then pretty much snubs him.

It was interesting to see Vincent price play a character (Shelby Carpenter) that is not in a spook movie.

Look how confident Dana Andrews as Detective Lieutenant Mark McPherson, is in this movie. Also notice his high heal shoes. See him as a completely different character in "In Harm's Way" (1965), as Admiral 'Blackjack' Broderick. Also directed by Otto Preminger.


The Razor's Edge

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Face in the Misty Light, April 25, 2010

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Laura ~ Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb (NTSC All Regions) (DVD)

Laura is the film which made me fall in love with the movies. When Otto Preminger was told to take over this project from wunderkind Rouben Mamoulian, it was reportedly a mess. How much was already in the can has always been in dispute, some still maintaining that the famous opening shots are director Mamoulian's work. David Raksin's famous score, however, so beautiful and haunting that it set the tone for the entire film, had not yet been written. Preminger told Raksin to take the weekend and come up with something or he would use Duke Ellington's Sophisticated Lady instead.

Raksin's marriage was falling apart at the time, and over the weekend he wrote the theme from Laura as much for his wife as for the film. Sadly, it did not save his marriage. It did, however, change forever this film. Raksin's score was so haunting and beautiful that Preminger framed the entire picture around it. Decades later, both this film and Raksin's lovely score are regarded as two of the best to ever come out of Hollywood.

Dana Andrews had his greatest role as Detective Mark McPherson, assigned the murder of society girl Laura Hunt due to office politics. Wlado Lydecker is also the role for which Clifton Webb will best be remembered. He gives an outstanding performance as the deceased Laura's vain and famous benefactor. Using his wit and intellect to destroy all of Laura's suitors in his weekly column, we see everything played out in flashbacks told to McPherson during the investigation.

Vincent Price had his best non-horror role as Shelby Carpenter, the one man Waldo could not drive away. Laura was to have been married to Carpenter, a heel with perfect manners. The more McPherson learns about Laura the more he wonders why such a sweet and down to earth girl ended up a society page murder mystery. She liked baseball and shares a favorite book with McPherson. Her portrait, painted by one of the suitors Lydecker destroyed in his column, hangs ominously above the chair where Mark McPherson reads her diary, searching for clues that will help him unravel the mystery of both her life, and her violent death.

Laura's fiercely loyal maid, Bessie, protects Laura's reputation at every turn. McPherson is sympathetic and wants to protect her reputation also, as he has fallen for a ghost. David Raksin's haunting score sets the atmosphere to every film buff's favorite mystery romance. Halfway through this film, on a rainy night in Laura's apartment, the entire case will be turned upside down in one of the most famous twists in screen history.

This film was adapted from the terrific Vera Caspary novel of 1943 and is a mystery classic as well. Both the novel and the film are timeless treasures to be cherished. This is one of the finest films ever made and one you simply have to see. You will never feel the same about the movies after buying and watching this film. It will make you fall in love with the movies.