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Woman in the Window [VHS]

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Edward G. Robinson gave a superb performance in "The Woman in the Window" which he made the same year as he starred in Billy Wilder's classic movie "Double Indemnity" (1944). To have two great parts such as these in the same year was a remarkable achievement but Robinson was a talented actor and played a variety of roles in a long and successful career. He started out at Warner Bros. in typical gangster roles (along with Bogart and Cagney) but by the 40's had branched out into other more satisfying characterisations. In "The Woman in the Window" he was outstanding as Professor Richard Wanley and had excellent support from Joan Bennett as the seductive Alice Reed and Dan Duryea was suitably menacing as the villainous Heidt. The film was powerfully directed by Fritz Lang with an unexpected surprise twist at the end!!

Robinson plays decent and respectable Richard Wanley whose family life is very straightforward and orderly. However, his peaceful routine is about to be devastated by sinister events completely beyond his control. With his wife and children away on holiday he is visiting his club for a quiet drink with colleagues when he stops to admire the painting of a woman in the window of an art gallery nearby. Much to his astonishment he sees the glamorous model (Joan Bennett) watching him carefully. She explains that she often visits the gallery to check on people's reactions to her painting in the window. After a few minutes conversation they go for a drink and then continue on to her apartment which turns out to be Robinson's biggest mistake. The events which follow lead to violence, murder and blackmail made even more complicated when Wanley's friend District Attorney Lalor (Raymond Massey) is assigned to the investigation.

Some favourite lines from the film:

Joan Bennett (to Edward G. Robinson): "I'm not married. I have no designs on you and one drink is all I care for".

Robinson (to Bennett): "I should never have stopped to talk with you - I should never have come here to drink with you". Bennett (to Robinson): "Never?".

Raymond Massey (to Robinson): "It's all right Richard - don't get excited. We rarely arrest people just for knowing where the body was".

"The Woman in the Window" has a gripping storyline with many surprises along the way and edge of the seat suspense. The viewer is completely riveted by Wanley's predicament as he is drawn deeper and deeper into a situation he can't understand or explain and is unable to get out of. Just when it seems that Wanley's troubles can't get any worse there is a totally unexpected twist at the end of the film which was certainly a surprise to me! The success of this film encouraged director Fritz Lang to reunite with his three leading players the following year for another classic thriller "Scarlet Street". See them both.

Fritz Langs great, clever movie about fidelity, of all things, wrapped in a murder melodrama. Robinson plays a meek, well-respected man of standing who after sending his wife and child away for the summer (a common practice of well-off New Yorkers in the days befor air conditioners)lusts after the painting of a beautiful woman in the window of an art store.

The conservative, reliable Robinson imagines what it would be like if he were presented with the opportunity to be impetuous for once. Oh, what he would do if he ever met this woman.

Lang obliges, or shall we say lets him have it, and Robinson's dream turns into a nightmare. A lesson actually. Remember what your mother told you about what happens to little boys who smoke?

Maltin calls this a melodrama. It's actually a very subtle, dark comedy, one without any jokes. Just a scenario that gets out of hand as it rolls along. I can't explain why without giving it away, just a terrific storyline.

Stars Edward G. Robinson as a college professor who meets regularly with colleagues at a mens club. Next door to the club is a portrait of a beautiful woman in the window of a studio. The men come look at the portrait and admire her beauty. One evening Robinson meets the woman and goes to her apartment for a drink. Her boyfriend bursts in and in the ensuing scuffle is killed. But things are not really as they seem and Robinson eventually learns the truth behind his chance meeting with the "woman in the window". A Very good mystery with good performances.

If you can enjoy a film with all the suspense and turns that each character can contribute to the story, then "Woman In the Window" is for you. The video is approx. 120 minuntes and had been digital restored to provide a crisp video and audio that will satisfy the film noir fan.

The affable Edward G. Robinson plays criminal psychology professor Richard Wanley in "The Woman in the Window". After spiriting his wife and children away on vacation he goes to his club to spend time with his friends, one of whom being D.A. Lalor played by the angular Raymond Massey.

After they depart, Robinson becomes enraptured with a portrait of a beautiful young woman displayed in the window of an art gallery next to the club. Robinson is startled when he sees a face reflected in the window of the woman in the portrait. After his initial shock, Robinson engages the gal Alice Reed played by Joan Bennett in converstaion. They eventually wind up in her apartment for an innocent nightcap. Quite suddenly and unexpectedly an agitated unknown man bursts into Bennett's apartment and in a jealous rage starts to choke the life out of Robinson. Protecting himself, Robinson grabs a pair of scissors and stabs the man in the back killing him.

Bennett and Robinson are conflicted as to what to do and ultimately decide to cover up the crime and move the body to a distant location. Since they are both amateurs, very soon evidence starts to mount as the body is quickly found. It turns out that the gentleman was a millionaire who had been missing since arriving in New York's Penn Station. Massey, not suspecting Robinson involves him in the investigation. Robinson starts getting panicky when the noose starts tightening around his neck. Things really start going awry when Dan Duryea, a bodyguard of the millionaire arrives at Bennett's pad threatening extortion.

Lang creates an intense sense of fear, dread and intrigue as his plot evolves greatly aided by nice acting performances by a solid ensemble. Lang's finale is a bit of a cop out but didn't spoil the overall fine quality of the flick.

Robinson plays a criminology professor who sees his wife and kids off at Grand Central station while he continues to reside in Manhattan. After hours at his club with his good friends, the psychiatrist and the district attorney, the three men agree that they are too old for any adventures, particularly amorous ones. On the way home Robinson pauses in front of an enticing portrait of Joan Bennett and runs into the woman herself. Flirtatious but innocent banter ensues, and the two spend a lovely evening which ends, oddly enough, with Robinson in Bennett's apartment. He's just about to open some champagne when Bennett's lover comes in raging. The rest of the film involves Bennett and Robinson rather incredibly dodging complicity and association with the man, financier Claude Mazard, as Robinson has the even more harrowing experience of learning that his great friend the district attorney is investigating Claude Mazard's murder! This is classic escapist film noir entertainment, beautifully shot with great directing and fun acting. And I liked the ending too.

I do not know have I've managed to miss seeing this film up to now. It has all the elements that film noir fans want--atmosphere, mystery, murder, wet streets and femmes. Shadows are terrific. Music very good. Seeing this movie will likely remind you again why you like this genre so much.

"Woman in the Window" has everything good noir needs. An innocent man drawn into the world of a mysterious femme fatale and getting in over his head in murder. Edward G.Robinson as the man and Joan Bennett as the woman are excellent. As in "Laura", the psychological angle of the man meeting the model of a portrait that mesmerizes him is played up well. When she appears out of nowhere, she is appropriately dressed in glittering black from head to toe. And at night of course. It's actually not murder but self-defense in Bennett's apartment. But the wonderfully slimy Dan Duryea turns up as a sadistic blackmailer and goes after Bennett. This is good, gripping film noir and masterfully directed by Fritz Lang. There's a great creepy sequence of Robinson disposing of the body in the woods and a sardonic twist at the end. Very good DVD print too in shadowy b&w. Highly recommended. Especially if you liked Lang's "Scarlet Street" again with Robinson, Bennett and Duryea. Enjoy.

** Some SPOILERS contained in this review which I feel are unavoidable **

It's interesting in retrospect that Fritz Lang, the director more than any other associated with the shadowy and deterministic world of film noir started off his noir period with this (relatively) sunny, funny, and even playful film that seems to poke fun at the whole criminal-detective genre all the while offering a riveting example of it. I suspect that most viewers won't guess the "twist" ending on their first viewings, but careful rewatches show it to be fairly logical and not the throw-you-for-a-loop that some less-kind viewers have seen it as.

Professor of Psychology Richard Wanley (Edward G. Robinson) is seen giving a lecture on the psychology of murder, after which he sees his wife and kids off for their weekend in the country, and then goes to meet a couple of old friends at his club, just outside of which he admires a mysterious portrait painting of a beautiful young woman. One of his friends is a District Attorney (Raymond Massey) and the talk amongst the group inevitably turns to such subjects as crime, their growing infirmities as they move through middle age, the dangers of too much alcohol, the desires of infirm flesh and minds. Wanley retires to a favorite chair to read, desiring to be reminded when it is 10:30.

At the appointed hour, the Professor leaves the club, pausing once more to admire the mysterious portrait - but this time encountering the model who posed for it, the equally beautiful Alice Reed (Joan Bennett). Having had a little too much, the Professor unwisely accompanies Miss Reed to her apartment to look at more paintings - but they are unfortunately surprised by her lover, "Frank", a fight ensues, and Frank is dead with scissors in the back. The calm and rational Professor must now think through the best way for the two of them to beat the rap, disguise the crime, dispose of the body....but of course his friend the District Attorney is involved, as is blackmailer Heidt (Dan Duryea). Soon it appears there may be more blood on Wanley's hands, and can he really trust Miss Reed, who he has only known for hours? It all seems rather absurd...and perhaps it is.

The suspense keeps building - at every moment the Professor stays calm, though Miss Reed gets more and more upset, but at every moment the noose seems to get closer - and Wanley himself helps to tighten it as he keeps making strange, knowing comments in front of DA and police. Yet he appears too calm, and everything seems just a little too by the book, so it might strike us as a little too obvious when he finally chooses to take just a bit too much of his powerful heart medicine, and we see him slumped over in his chair, apparently....dreaming. He gets up, exits the club, can't help but notice the painting, but this time when a beautiful model walks up to him, he knows better than to stop and get involved in what might be just a moment's conversation...or an adventure ending in the gallows!

What's terrific here most of all is the playing around with conventions both of the kinds of characters we associate with these films - Massey's DA in particular seems like he's in on the whole `joke' at various points, and the subject that Robinson teaches, psychology, plays into both his own psychology as he coolly tries to find a way out of the mess - and that of the filmmakers and viewers, as we cast our critical gazes on the story and ultimately might decide that it's all a little too pat. Of course it is, and the film acknowledges this more than once as Robinson seems almost eager to give himself away - but it always just gets to the brink of self-parody, never quite crossing it; if this is among the most self-conscious of films noir, it's also one of the most fun to re-watch and re-analyze, even after one knows the gimmick.

Superbly photographed, very much a "Hollywood-New York" film, done all on sets, but in this case the artificial reality of it all affords the dream-logic of the film a perfect setting. It's nice to see Robinson play someone largely competent, a nice guy caught up by circumstance; Bennett, too, is more a "normal" character than usual. Duryea's usual greasiness and Massey's sardonic humor round things out nicely; certainly up to the director's usual standards. Followed the next year by Lang's SCARLET STREET with the same three principal cast members (Bennett, Robinson, Duryea) and director of photography (Milton Krasner).

The solid KINO DVD release looks great, but offers nothing in the way of extras.

One of the best of Fritz Lang's American movies - a thriller with the logic and plausibility of a nightmare. Lang's technique is so sure and so seductive that the viewer completely identifies with the safe, serene protagonist (Edward G. Robinson), an associate professor of psychology in a New York City college, and shares his shock and fear when he's caught in a trap. The professor is interested in the relation of motive to homicide - an interest that's purely a matter of intellectual curiosity. Then, when his wife and child are out of town, he visits a woman's apartment; her lover comes in and unexpectedly attacts him, and he kills the intruder with a pair of scissors.............. Cleverly, Bennett is the alluring subject of a painting he admires; (the woman in the window, natch). A refreshing, intelligent little thriller-melodrama with a surprise ending.